https://theathletic.com/2324029/2021...iefs-playoffs/
Kareem Hunt hoping to make most of second chance as he returns to KC with Browns
by
Zac Jackson & Nate Taylor
Originally Posted by :
Hours after TMZ Sports posted a video that showed him shoving and kicking a woman in the hallway of a downtown Cleveland hotel, Kareem Hunt left the Chiefs’ training facility on Nov. 30, 2018, his final day as a member of the team.
The altercation occurred the morning of Feb. 10. The police were reportedly called after the incident, but there were no arrests made and no charges against Hunt were filed.
But the video made two troubling points clear to the Chiefs: Hunt, despite two police reports saying otherwise, had assaulted the woman. And he had lied about it.
Hunt — at 22, the reigning NFL rushing champion — complicated his situation, according to a team source at the time, by giving the same answer to the Chiefs for months after the incident.
“I never left the (hotel) room,” Hunt told the franchise each time. “I didn’t do a thing.”
The video proved otherwise, and the Chiefs cut him.
Through a statement, the Chiefs said Hunt was “not truthful” to his employer. If Hunt had told the truth in February 2018 and the months that followed, the Chiefs, according to team sources then, would have pursued every option available to them through the NFL to allow him to remain on their roster. Instead, he was cut in the middle of what the Chiefs hoped would be a Super Bowl run.
Realizing the magnitude of his actions and his mistakes, Hunt cried in front of his coaches and members of the front office after he learned of the team’s decision. With trembling emotion in his voice, Hunt apologized. He pleaded to the Chiefs to reconsider their decision. They did not.
The morning after Hunt was released, the Chiefs gathered at their training facility. They organized a meeting to address the situation, which was led by coach Andy Reid and superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Most of the players understood the team’s decision. But many of Hunt’s former teammates that day, tight end Travis Kelce said Wednesday, were worried about his future.
“I can only imagine how it was for him,” Kelce said of Hunt, who scored 25 touchdowns with the Chiefs in less than two seasons. “It was probably an uphill battle that he had to deal with mentally, as well as face the reality of things.”
Then, on Feb. 4, 2019, the day after Super Bowl LIII, the Browns announced a surprise transaction.
“Surprise” is not a strong enough word. It was a bombshell.
They’d signed Hunt, bringing him back to his hometown of Cleveland. Hunt was born in Elyria, about 20 miles west of the city, and he starred at Willoughby South High School in the eastern suburbs. After only about nine weeks as a free agent, he was signed by the team he’d grown up rooting for.
John Dorsey, who’d been general manager of the Chiefs when Hunt was drafted in the third round, held the same title with the Browns. The Browns, 4-44 from 2015 to 2017 and winless in 2017, had finished the 2018 season 7-8-1. Their rookie running back, Nick Chubb, finished just short of 1,000 yards despite only starting nine games. It was clear that Chubb was headed for stardom, but the Browns were still the team willing to give Hunt a second chance.
Dorsey released a statement and later that day took questions about Hunt. Why were the Browns willing to take the chance? And why did Dorsey think Hunt was worth the risk? This was his response: “Kareem took full responsibility for his egregious actions and showed true remorse,” Dorsey said. “Secondly, just as importantly, he is undergoing and is committed to necessary professional treatment and a plan that has been clearly laid out.”
The Browns knew Hunt eventually would be suspended for his actions; the NFL later announced the suspension would be for half a season and would include stipulations such as Hunt avoiding further trouble and seeking professional counseling. Hunt’s contract was for one year and what equated to $500,000 after the suspension. He’d be eligible for restricted free agency after 2019 assuming he met all of his conditions and played, which he did. The Browns limped to the finish last year. Hunt played well in spurts and scored two rushing touchdowns. After the season, Dorsey was fired.
Last January, Hunt was pulled over on Interstate 90 outside of Cleveland with marijuana and an open bottle of vodka in the car. As he talked with the officer who pulled him over, Hunt essentially said that he should have been playing for the Chiefs and preparing for the Super Bowl.
“It hurts my soul. I’ve been fighting a lot of shit lately. It still hurts me to this day,” Hunt told the officer. “I love Cleveland, love the Browns, but you don’t understand.”
During his talk with the officer, Hunt said he’d fail an NFL drug test if he had to take one and said he’d be “done” if he got in trouble again. The officer told Hunt he would only issue him a ticket for speeding, and he was not charged for marijuana possession or the open container. Still, Hunt was clearly not in a good place. And his emotional wellbeing aside, it seemed, again, that his football future was tenuous.
At the time, the only things new Browns general manager Andrew Berry and new coach Kevin Stefanski would say publicly was that they’d spoken to Hunt and laid out expectations he would need to meet. In March, the Browns extended a second-round restricted free-agent tender to Hunt. By September, just a few days before the season opener, the team announced that they’d signed Hunt to a two-year extension that will keep him in Cleveland through 2022. That announcement came with a carefully worded statement attributed to Hunt that said, “Cleveland has always been home” and that he was thankful for “the entire Browns organization for continuing to believe in me through the process.”
The extension made it clear that Hunt had earned the team’s trust off the field. When the season started, it quickly became clear that the new guys in charge saw Hunt as an explosive and integral piece of a burgeoning offense. Only one team in the NFL has a former rushing champion as its No. 2 running back, and with Stefanski calling the plays and the offensive line playing at a high level, Hunt and Chubb both posted outstanding seasons. Hunt ran for 841 yards and 11 total touchdowns, while Chubb went over 1,000 yards rushing and had 12 rushing touchdowns despite missing four games.
This week, Hunt said he had “a bunch of people” to thank for helping him reorganize his priorities and stay out of trouble, including his teammates in Cleveland. Hunt acknowledged that he had to earn their trust when he initially signed with the Browns — what he’d done was no secret — and said he had long been comfortable with the fact that he would have to prove that he really had learned from his past transgressions.
“(The Browns) believed in me. They gave me an opportunity and a chance,” Hunt said this week. “I would like to thank (Browns owners Jimmy and Dee) Haslam for bringing me in with welcome arms. Honestly, it has been a journey. I missed eight games last year. … This year, I wanted to make sure I do whatever I can to help this team turn it around.”
This week, Chubb said that Hunt has been telling him for months that a return trip to Kansas City would be coming in the playoffs. Hunt helped the Browns advance by scoring three touchdowns — one rushing and two receiving — in last week’s win over the Steelers, the franchise’s first playoff victory in Hunt’s lifetime. The Browns’ last game against the Chiefs had been in November of 2018, just a few weeks before the video surfaced and Hunt was released.
“Honestly,” Hunt said, “I believed since early in the season. I’ve had a feeling we were going to see the Chiefs in the playoffs.”
Hunt has said that he believes he left the Chiefs no choice but to release him. He calls the incident, the fallout and his brief unemployment “a learning point.” He’s often in touch with many of his former Kansas City teammates, including this week. Mahomes was one of many former teammates who sent Hunt congratulatory text messages after the Browns beat the Steelers last weekend. In the past two years, Mahomes and Hunt have chatted several times.
“That’s my dude, man,” Mahomes said Monday during his weekly appearance on 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City. “I came in (in the league) with Kareem. He’s a heck of a player and someone who was one of my best friends when we first got on the team together.’’
The final message that Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and coach Andy Reid gave to Hunt on his final day with the team was a compassionate one.
According to sources close to the team, they didn’t want Hunt’s future to be like that of former NFL running back Ray Rice. Rice, who played six seasons for the Ravens from 2008 to 2013, was never given a second opportunity after a 2014 video — also posted by TMZ Sports — showed him assaulting his girlfriend inside a hotel elevator. The Chiefs reportedly told him that they would do what they could to help him stay in the NFL if he took the necessary steps to improve his off-field behavior, including explaining to teams interested in Hunt who he was as a person under their structure and watch.
This week, several members of the Chiefs — Reid, Kelce and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy — have commended Hunt for his positive attitude and diligence since joining the Browns.
“We love Kareem,” Reid said Monday. “He’s a heck of a kid, and I’m so happy for him that he’s doing well. Really, that’s the most important thing. You put the game aside and you want to make sure these guys end up heading in the right direction so they can sustain that the rest of their life.”
No matter the outcome of Sunday’s game, Hunt said he plans to find Reid to express his appreciation for their relationship and how it has developed since he left Kansas City.
“Coach Reid cares a lot about me, and he has always been a great coach to me,” Hunt said. “He looks beyond football.”
[Reply]
Like I said at the time, Reid cares about more than football - THAT is why they released him.
And he almost immediately, screwed up AGAIN. If it weren't for a police officer basically disregarding the law, he'd be out of the league.
Instead, he's playing football in his home town, where his entire entourage lives and where several of his family members have either died or gone to prison.
I pray that Kareem Hunt has turned his life around. I really do. But I've seen this story first hand, it doesn't often end well.
[Reply]
Originally Posted by joethomas:
Hunt was done no wrong by the Chiefs. He should be mad at himself. He is the one who couldn't keep his fists and feet to himself and who lied about it. He probably cost himself a large contract and a long career with a championship organization with his pattern of off the field problems.
Yep, all of this. But, you lie to the face of Andy Reid and Clark Hunt, it comes with consequences.
As a fan, I'm pissed I don't get to watch Hunt, Tyreek Hill, Mahomes and Kelce tear-ass through the league together through the primes of their careers for the better part of a decade. I guess I'll have to get used to watching CEH instead, huh? Lol
[Reply]
