Chiefs welcome Kareem Hunt back to Kansas City, will ease him into action (original) (raw)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kareem Hunt returned to the place where he became an NFL star Tuesday morning. He entered the Chiefs’ training facility and was greeted by coach Andy Reid, general manager Brett Veach and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the same trio he believed he would never get to work with again.
“I gave him a high-five and a hug when I saw him,” Mahomes said of Hunt, who joined the Chiefs’ practice squad on Wednesday. “He’s a person I used to spend a lot of time with.”
Hunt, a 29-year-old running back, was a free agent Sunday when the Chiefs secured a comeback victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Similar to other veterans at his age, Hunt knew his best chance to return to the league was if a team’s starting running back sustained a significant injury. Late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, Isiah Pacheco, the Chiefs’ starter, broke the fibula in his right leg. Within hours Monday morning, the Chiefs and Hunt began having conversations about a potential reunion, one neither side couldn’t have anticipated just days prior.
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Hunt accomplished two objectives Tuesday: He showed he was healthy and athletic in a tryout workout and he demonstrated the appropriate accountability about his mistakes earlier in his career when he met with Reid and Veach, according to a team source.
Once Hunt agreed to his deal with Kansas City late Tuesday afternoon, he posted a short Instagram video of his highlights from a 2018 game when he helped the Chiefs defeat the Denver Broncos by generating 86 all-purpose yards, including a touchdown in which he hurdled a defender before reaching the end zone.
“Run it back, turbo….” Hunt wrote in his post.
But almost six years since that game, Hunt knows he’s not the same player he was when he last played in a Chiefs uniform.
He participated in practice Wednesday wearing a different jersey number, 29 instead of 27. He also has dealt with several injuries, including surgery for a sports hernia last year. Because he didn’t go through the usual training regimen — training camp, padded practices and the preseason — Hunt will likely be given two weeks to get acclimated to his new teammates and the playbook while building up his conditioning. He spent most of Wednesday with the scout-team offense, the group that helps prepare the defensive starters.
“I want to see where he’s at,” Reid said. “He’ll know the base protections, the base (running plays) and some of the routes are new, but we’re not flexing him out and making him do all of that. He’s just got to (hear) some of the terminology. We’ll try to get him in a position where he’s ready to play, whether it’s this week or the following week.”
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The Chiefs selected Hunt in the third round of the 2017 draft. As a rookie, he led the league with 1,327 rushing yards. But he was released on Nov. 30, 2018, after TMZ Sports posted a video of him shoving and kicking a woman in a hallway of a Cleveland hotel on Feb. 10, 2018.
At one time, the belief inside the Chiefs organization was the team would never have a reunion with Hunt, especially after his sudden release. After the move, the team also noted that Hunt lied about the incident on multiple occasions, including conversations with club owner Clark Hunt.
After an eight-game suspension in 2019, Kareem Hunt spent parts of five seasons with the Cleveland Browns, recording 2,285 rushing yards and 32 total touchdowns.
“I think people deserve a second chance,” Reid said. “We thought he needed a change of scenery and get some help and take care of business there. We felt like he did that. He did a nice job in Cleveland. We talked to the people there and there were no issues. We felt OK about bringing him back. He’s 29 years old, so time flies. It looks like he’s grown up some.”
But last year was Hunt’s worst season since his truncated 2019. In 15 games with the Browns, he recorded just 495 all-purpose yards on 150 touches, although he did have nine touchdowns.
“I still saw the burst, the toughness,” Reid said of reviewing Hunt’s film from last season. “We worked him out and felt good about it.”
The professionally shot video of Kareem Hunt #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/rKIW2jkfpL
— Harold R. Kuntz (@HaroldRKuntz3) September 18, 2024
Throughout his time in Cleveland, Hunt maintained his friendship with Mahomes, attending the quarterback’s wedding more than two years ago.
“He’s learned and become a better person,” Mahomes said. “Football is secondary, but I’m glad to have him back. Everybody has friends that make mistakes. Some are bigger than others, but you want to see them taking the right steps to become a better person for themselves, their family and the rest of society. You’ve seen that with Kareem.”
While Hunt was on the practice field with his teammates Wednesday, Pacheco, a third-year player, was having surgery to repair his broken fibula. Pacheco’s rehab is expected to take at least two months, according to a team source.
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Even if Hunt is available to play a small role, rookie Carson Steele is expected to start for the Chiefs in Sunday night’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.
“You hate to see (Pacheco) go down, but you’ve got to step up and be the next guy,” Steele said. “If that happens to come in this game, I’m going to take it proudly. It would mean everything, coming from the Cinderella story, being an undrafted guy. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m going to keep taking the role I have and do whatever we can do to have team success.”
Kansas City’s depth at running back has been a concern since the start of camp. Against the Falcons, the Chiefs will likely have Steele split snaps with seven-year veteran Samaje Perine, who joined the team just two weeks ago. Steele gained 24 rushing yards on seven attempts against the Bengals but also fumbled for one of the Chiefs’ three giveaways.
“Everybody makes mistakes, even at the biggest level,” Steele said. “I was trying to hold myself down in that game, but all the coaches and veterans came up to me and said, ‘You’ve got to forget it and move on.’ That kind of helped me get those extra third-and-1 conversions after the fumble.”
The undrafted rookie Carson Steele really ran right over everybody 😳
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS/Paramount
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/nU5IRfTl5F— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024
Before his injury against the Bengals, Pacheco produced 111 all-purpose yards on 24 touches. In the locker room after the game, Reid hugged Pacheco, who was seen crying before he learned the extent of his injury.
If Pacheco can participate in football activities in two months, he could be available to return to the lineup when the Chiefs face the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 9.
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Almost 20 years ago, Reid was the Philadelphia Eagles’ coach when Hall of Fame receiver Terrell Owens sustained a high ankle sprain and a fractured fibula during a Dec. 19, 2004, game against the Dallas Cowboys. Owens had surgery and returned seven weeks later to play in Super Bowl XXXIX, recording nine receptions on 14 targets for 122 yards.
“T.O. attacked it and he was going to play in the Super Bowl,” Reid said. “Between the chamber he was sleeping in and living basically with (then-head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) all day, he was able to come back relatively quickly.
“The thing you can learn from that is you attack the injury and stay positive with it. Everybody is different, but he wasn’t going to be denied that opportunity. Pacheco, like T.O., is one of those guys you have to back off (during a rehab).”
(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)
Nate Taylor has been a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Kansas City Chiefs since 2018. Before that, he covered the Indiana Pacers at The Indianapolis Star for two years. He has also been a sports features writer for The New York Times and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. A Kansas City native, he graduated from the University of Central Missouri. Follow Nate on Twitter @ByNateTaylor