Kareem Hunt is still only 27 years old and presumably has enough in the tank to help any of several NFL teams in 2023. What’s the latest league buzz on potential landing spots for the former elite running back? Will the Cleveland Browns take him back? Or could Hunt attract another suitor?
Latest Kareem Hunt Rumors
Who won the NFL rushing title as a rookie in 2017? Hunt. Who did the Chiefs cut the following year when a video surfaced showing him physically assaulting a woman? Hunt.
Kansas City might have won the Super Bowl in the 2018 season if they hadn’t done the right thing by cutting Hunt. It was a rare example of a title contender undercutting its football goals in favor of human decency.
Admittedly, I thought Hunt’s career would be over at that point. But he’s persevered off the field, including serving as an advocate for the STOMP Out Bullying campaign. And he’s persevered on the field, thanks to a Browns team that successfully paired him with Nick Chubb, forming one of the NFL’s best backfield duos.
Hunt’s versatility is his calling card. He can serve as a bell cow or as a complementary back and adept pass catcher. Hunt’s broken-tackle rate consistently ranks among the league’s best. The fact that he hasn’t been a weekly starter since 2018 has everything to do with the fact that he plays “behind” one of the greatest running backs of this generation. On most other teams, Hunt would have pushed for a starting role in any of the last four seasons.
Hunt’s Potential Landing Spots
Now, Hunt’s going on 28 years old, and while he hasn’t accrued the mileage of most consistently utilized running backs his age, he appears to be on the downside of his career.
This past season, Hunt averaged only 3.8 yards per carry. For a guy who’d never finished below 4.2 and who entered the 2022 campaign with a 4.6 career mark, it was a noticeable decline — especially alongside the comparably aged Chubb, who hit 5.0+ ypc for the fifth straight year.
Cleveland is reportedly open to re-signing Hunt. Prior to the 2023 NFL Draft, Browns GM Andrew Berry said, “I don’t know that we’ve necessarily shut the door on anything. I mean we’re not playing games until September, so we’ll remain open-minded to anything that can help the team. We like the room that we have. … That wouldn’t exclude us from adding someone this upcoming weekend at that position, but we just got to see how the board shakes out.”
Curiously, the franchise didn’t take another RB in this year’s draft. Cleveland even selected a quarterback early in the fifth round with plenty of potentially NFL-ready running backs still on the board, including Israel Abanikanda, Chase Brown, Eric Gray, Chris Rodriguez Jr., Deuce Vaughn, and Zach Evans.
My hunch is that if Hunt doesn’t get a better opportunity elsewhere, then the Browns will take him with arms wide open. Their current backfield behind Chubb is potentially thin with Demetric Felton and 2022 fifth-rounder Jerome Ford. The Browns are all in with Deshaun Watson, and both Chubb and Amari Cooper aren’t getting any younger. If this team wants to make a Super Bowl run, even a post-prime Hunt could be a net positive in a tertiary role.
The Denver Broncos also reportedly could be interested in Hunt, as they could use another running back with Javonte Williams still recovering from a torn ACL. They added Samaje Perine this offseason, and like the Browns, Denver is in pseudo-win-now mode after going all in last year on their long-term “franchise” quarterback.
We should also keep in mind that Hunt wants to play a prominent role somewhere. Realistically, that might not happen until/unless a serious injury compels a team to sign the best RB available. Hunt might need to wait until September or later to get the call he wants.
That’s the two-way street of contract negotiations for an aging running back with a potentially outsized view of his own abilities. Perhaps Hunt can reclaim his former glory. But for now, he must contend with either taking the best job offered to him or holding out for a more desperate team later in the year.