Travis Hunter shockingly not consensus No. 1 overall player among NFL draft experts

Travis Hunter is the best player in college football. So why isn't there any consensus about him heading into the 2025 NFL Draft?

Sep 21, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) walks off the field before the game against the Baylor Bears at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

There isn't another player in college football today who can hold a candle to what Heisman Trophy favorite and future 2025 NFL Draft pick Travis Hunter is doing. He's the best player in the nation, and it's hard to imagine anyone holding an opinion different than that.

However, in a new Insiders article for ESPN, Matt Miller and Steve Muench both argue that Hunter is not the No. 1 overall prospect on their individual NFL draft big board. And both have a Michigan player atop that board, rather than Hunter.

Miller believes that Michigan cornerback Will Johnson, who has been sensational, is the No. 1 overall player in the draft.

"I love Hunter -- he would be my pick for the Heisman Trophy -- but I can't put him at No. 1 over Johnson. The Michigan junior is a bigger (6-foot-2, 202 pounds), better cornerback than Hunter. That physicality shows in how he attacks the ball and impacts the run game. Johnson is also equally as dynamic with the ball in his hands, as he has returned both of his interceptions this season for touchdowns. And he now has nine career interceptions."

- Matt Miller -- ESPN

Muench also has a Michigan star atop his big board. Instead of Johnson, he believes defensive tackle Mason Graham is the best player in the draft.

"A defensive tackle hasn't gone first overall since the Bengals took Ohio State's Dan Wilkinson in 1994, but Graham has an outside shot of breaking that streak. Graham was the top prospect on my board coming into the season and has remained there. He demands double-teams, and that makes it tougher for opponents to get blockers up to the linebackers and creates more one-on-one matchups for Michigan's edge rushers. Graham is the best defensive tackle I've evaluated since Alabama's Quinnen Williams, who went No. 3 in 2019. With two sacks on Saturday against Minnesota, he now has three on the season."

Three of the five NFL draft analysts surveyed for this article do have Hunter as the top overall player for the 2025 NFL Draft. So the majority of this group does see the dual-threat star as the premier player in next year's draft.

However, as talented and gifted and productive as Hunter is, there are teams that will inevitably have other players higher on their draft boards. That's just the way this thing works. When it's all said and done, though, nobody should be surprised if Hunter ends up shining brighter than anyone else at the next level.