Wide receiver Roy Green wasn't a trash talker when he played for the Cardinals.
However, when he trotted onto the field with the offense, he wasn't afraid to tell the cornerback -- the likes of Everson Walls and Darrell Green -- that he knew their next step way before the ball was ever snapped.
That was the defensive back in Green speaking.
"They would just laugh," the two-time Pro Bowler said on the Big Red Rage. "That's an advantage for you. You've got to know as much as you can about the other side of the ball."
Green was drafted in the fourth round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979 as a defensive back. By 1981, he became a two-way player, seeing meaningful snaps on both sides of the ball. In three different games in 1981, Green had a reception and an interception in the same game, something which hadn't been accomplished since 1957.
In a few days, a team will have the opportunity to draft their own two-way player in Travis Hunter, who starred at Colorado as both cornerback and wide receiver. That team will have to determine where the Heisman Trophy winner will start and divvy up his snap totals. Hunter said in an interview if a team forced him to only play one position then he's “never playing football again.”
"They say nobody has ever done it in the way I do it," Hunter said at the Scouting combine. "But I tell them I'm just different. I'm a different person."
Is it possible to play both sides of the ball? Of course. Green knows from his own personal experience that it can be done.
The more important question is for how long it can be sustainable for Hunter.
"Most players are going to have about 60 plays on offense or defense, but when he goes in he's playing 100 and some plays a game," Green said. "He's playing basically two games every time and you're playing one, so eventually, it's going to wear you down."
"Jet Stream" Green discovered firsthand how taxing double duty is for the body. It was also challenging from an in-game adjustments perspective.
"When you're in a game and everybody's gathering together and they're talking about making some adjustments, if you're playing defense at the time, you don't hear this," Green said. "It could be, 'OK, we're going to change this call and how we do this.' But you don't get that when you're on (the field). It's a very difficult time."
Before Cardinals coach Jim Hanifan asked the defensive back to play some wide receiver, Green would listen in to the receivers coaching instructions to help himself guard the position. Soon enough, those tips would help him as he transitioned to solely playing wide receiver full-time in 1982, followed by back-to-back seasons with All-Pro honors.
Hunter has been vocal about his desire to play both positions. Green is interested in watching Hunter's next steps.
If the soon-to-be first-rounder wants a blueprint for how to play both sides in the NFL, just turn on the 14-year NFL veteran's tape.
"I think about my advantage and how did I jump out to do it so quickly," Green said. "The fact I knew what they do on defense made it so much easier for me to go to receiver because it's about adjustments."
