This NFL puzzle ran on Aug 16, 2026. The task was to connect Travis Hunter to Trey Amos with a chain of real players. The objective: “Your chain must include a Stanford alum.” Par was 3 links.
Travis Hunter (WR) played in the NFL from 2025 to 2026. A one-team career, spent with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2025 to 2026). College: Colorado and Jackson State University. As the Start of the chain, a household name like this gives you a lot of teammates to branch from, which makes it a friendly place to begin.
Trey Amos (DB) played in the NFL from 2025 to 2026. A one-team career, spent with the Washington Commanders (2025 to 2026). College: Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. As the Finish of the chain, a household name like this gives you a lot of teammates to branch from, which makes it a friendly place to begin.
Travis Hunter and Trey Amos do not share a team or a college, so there is no direct link. You need at least one connector in between, and the objective decides which ones are allowed to count.
This was a college objective. The chain has to pass through a player from the named school at some point, not necessarily as a link to the Start or Finish. Of the 17,973 players in the pool, 192 satisfy it. The best known are John Elway (QB, 1990 to 1998), Christian McCaffrey (RB, 2017 to 2026), John Lynch (DB, 1993 to 2007), Richard Sherman (CB, 2011 to 2021), James Lofton (WR, 1990 to 1993), and Zach Ertz (TE, 2013 to 2026).
7 of those players share a team or college with Travis Hunter, and 13 share one with Trey Amos. The Start is the tighter side, so working forward from Travis Hunter narrows the options fastest.
One shortest chain found by searching the full player pool, preferring the best known names at every step:
Many other chains work. Scoring rewards lower-profile connectors, so the best-known route is rarely the highest scoring one.
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