In his return to the team that drafted him, running back <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/02/promised-a-new-culture-women-say-the-nfl-actually-marginalized-them/" title="Promised a new culture, women say the NFL actually marginalized them”>Kareem Hunt‘s 41 carries for 171 yards in two games have made an immediate impact.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the Kansas City Chiefs held training camp this summer, Kareem Hunt performed a workout on his own hundreds of miles away.
Hunt met with his former track coach, Matt Luck, four times a week at Willoughby South High School outside Cleveland. They would set up cones representing defenders at various locations on the football field and run plays, with Luck serving as quarterback and handing off or throwing to Hunt, the running back.
He would make reads on the cones, as he would on defenders in a real game, and then cut based on their positions, with an NFL limit of 40 seconds between plays.
Hunt’s goal wasn’t simply to get a job with an NFL team like the Chiefs, but to be ready to make an immediate impact once he got it.
“He did things that he would do in a game so that when he comes to camp and makes that move, his body is used to it,” Luck said.
Based on Hunt’s first two games with the Chiefs, who signed him after losing their starting running back Isiah Pacheco Due to a broken leg, those training sessions were a success. Hunt was the Chiefs’ leading rusher with 69 yards in their Week 4 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, then had his first 100-yard game since 2020 and scored a touchdown in Monday night’s win over the New Orleans Saints .
It was more than the Chiefs could have expected from Hunt, who hadn’t played or practiced with his teammates in eight months before arriving in Kansas City. Hunt acknowledged that it was more than he expected of himself.
“I guess that’s always part of you, (after) not playing for a while and then coming back and playing, (asking), ‘How are you going to play?'” Hunt said. “So I went out and stayed myself. I know what I do well and some of my weaknesses.”
Hunt began his NFL career in Kansas City, selected by the Chiefs with the 86th pick in the third round of the 2017 draft. He led the NFL in rushing as a rookie in 2017 and was having another great season in 2018, but was released in November of that year after video surfaced showing Hunt shoving and kicking a woman outside his Cleveland residence. No charges were filed against Hunt, but he was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list and the NFL suspended him for the first eight games of the 2019 season.
In 2019, his hometown Cleveland Browns signed him and he played five seasons with them. He became a free agent after the 2023 season, so the Chiefs were more hopeful than certain about how Hunt would fit when they signed him to the practice squad in September.
Hunt has not only been effective as a runner but has caught three passes and has done a solid job in pass protection.
“Coming into an offense (I know it’s an offense I’ve been in, but an offense I haven’t played in in years) and being able to run the ball hard, get some well-deserved yards and catch the ball out of the backfield, it was Good to see,” the quarterback said. Patrick Mahomes.
“He’s always been a hard-running guy. He’s tough to tackle and you can see it. He’ll make sure he finishes every run and falls forward. He’ll get more and more comfortable as the year goes on and he’ll have a role in our offense.” .
Although his goal while doing those workouts this summer was to land a job with any NFL team, Luck said Hunt had a particular favorite in mind. But the Chiefs, at that moment, seemed determined with Pacheco, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the rookie Carson Steele.
They even added another veteran, Samaje Perineat the end of training camp. But Pacheco’s injury left a void that the Chiefs believed they couldn’t fill with roster players alone.
“That was a door I always kept open if the situation was right,” Luck said. “He recognized why they let him go and was upset about it, but realized it was all up to him.
“It was always a nice place for him. Over the summer we even talked about, ‘Hey, if this happened, would you come back?’ And he said, ‘Yes.'”
“There are no words to describe how happy I was” when the Chiefs called, Hunt said. His joy was evident after scoring the touchdown against the Saints on a 5-yard run.
He formed a heart with his hands and showed it to the fans. “It was a great feeling to get back in the end zone,” Hunt admitted. “I missed him a lot. That’s why I made a heart, to show my love to Kansas City.”
