"Travis Hunter, he embodies belief," general manager James Gladstone said, per USA Today's Charlie Strella. "He is a rare person, he is a rare player, but he is also a reminder that the boundaries of the game of football were built to be challenged, and so the decision to select him was actually a statement. A statement on how we plan to move who we are.

We want him to be nothing more than him because when he is, he elevates the space around him from the football field to the city to the game of football itself. Travis Hunter is who we have been hunting for."