Chiefs’ Kareem Hunt has painful past with KC. He knows this is his shot at redemption
Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt sits in front of his locker, smiling and laughing through the final grind of a demanding season.
The discomfort is way better than a Caribbean vacation.
Just five years ago, Hunt says he refused to watch the Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. Too painful. Instead, as the Chiefs traveled to Miami, he scheduled a trip to the Bahamas to distract himself on Super Bowl Sunday.
The contrast is telling. Hunt is back in KC now, looking to advance to the same game he once did everything in his power to avoid.
“Coming back here makes it surreal,” Hunt told The Star. “I’ve got some closure now.”
And a chance to rewrite his narrative with the Chiefs.
The history: KC drafted Hunt in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and he started every game over two productive seasons before video surfaced of an off-field incident where he shoved and kicked a woman.
Hunt later admitted that he was not honest with the Chiefs when they spoke to him about the incident. The Chiefs released him in late November 2018, and Hunt signed with the Cleveland Browns in February 2019 before playing there for five seasons.
Now, Hunt describes having to leave KC as “one of the biggest heartbreaks and moments of my life.”
He doesn’t need to say it. It was captured on video.
During a traffic stop in 2020 — just before KC defeated San Francisco in Super Bowl LIV — dashcam video showed Hunt telling an Ohio police officer, “I should be playing for a freakin’ Super Bowl. It hurts my soul like you wouldn’t understand.”
Hunt set off for the Bahamas not long after.
“It was so tough, just especially going to another team when all you ever wanted to do was play for coach (Andy) Reid,” Hunt said. “I didn’t really want to play nowhere else, so it was hard, just getting that stripped away halfway through the season.”
Hunt said he leaned on his agent, Dan Saffron, and received supportive words from friends back home in Ohio.
Most repeated the same thing to him as the Chiefs made the Super Bowl in the 2019 and 2020 campaigns: “Someday, you’ll get your chance to go to the Super Bowl.”
“I tried to believe, bringing one to Cleveland,” Hunt said. “So I just wanted to get one either way.”
That division from the Chiefs still remained difficult.
The Chiefs — and owner Clark Hunt, no relation — forgave Hunt for his past transgressions this season. They signed him in mid-September following an injury to starting running back Isiah Pacheco.
“I would have never thought in a million years that I’d be coming back here. I thought that ship sank a long time ago,” Kareem Hunt said. “I know I’ve got the opportunity to do that (win a Super Bowl) now, and I’ve got to take advantage of it. So that’s what I think about every day.”
Hunt was determined not to let the Chiefs down this season — no matter the toll it would take on his body.
‘Don’t know how I’m gonna make it into work’
When the veteran Hunt jokes about joining the Chiefs this season while “coming off the couch,” he’s not exaggerating much.
Sure, he worked out with his former track coach Matt Luck to stay in shape, but for the second straight season, Hunt joined an NFL team without getting the prep work of a summer training camp.
KC didn’t ease him in, either. He became the workhorse back for the Chiefs in his second start against the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 7, rushing 27 times for 102 yards in a 26-13 home win.
The next day, Hunt said he “couldn’t even get out the bed” because his body was so sore.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna make it into work,’” Hunt said.
He pushed through. Not only because the Chiefs needed him, but also because this was the type of role he’d been desperate for after no NFL team invited him to camp.
“It had been so long getting back on the field, missing four or five weeks of the season, and you’ve got catching up to do,” Hunt said. “So there ain’t no time to rest.”
This week and next will be a bit different.
Hunt can take some time to recover after the Chiefs earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed and playoff bye week. He also has been able to shift lately to a less grueling role following Pacheco’s return from an ankle injury.
With both available, Hunt believes the two can provide the Chiefs with a “tough running game” in the postseason.
“I feel like teams are gonna get a little bit of a different style,” Hunt said, “more of a slash there (with Pacheco), and a guy who’s gonna run through you, bounce off tackles and be hungry.”
Hunt’s specialty with the Chiefs this season has certainly changed from when the team first drafted him in 2017.
Back then, Hunt relied on speed and thrived with explosive runs. As a rookie, he led the NFL in rushing yards.
Now, Hunt is older but succeeding differently. He’s not as quick but displays outstanding vision, showing a knack for picking up tough yards at the end of runs. He’s also been excellent in short-yardage situations.
His age has provided another benefit, too. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy saw that a few weeks ago when the running back broke free for a late run against the Houston Texans with a chance at a touchdown.
Nagy’s mind flashed back to Hunt’s rookie year, when he hit the open field and scored on a 69-yard run against the San Diego Chargers. That was despite the coaching staff wanting him to fall down before the end zone so the team could run out the clock.
This season? Hunt slid feet-first against the Texans after picking up the game-sealing first down.
“He knew to get down, and he did get down,” Nagy said with a smile. “And I think it just speaks to experience.”
What’s ahead for Hunt with Chiefs
Hunt’s next objective is to help KC win in the playoffs, a pursuit he says “means everything to me.”
Not only is Hunt proud to be part of the Chiefs organization again, but he also feels freed from previous ghosts.
“I can kind of move on from that, not have those regrets: ‘What if I never left Kansas City?’ All that stuff,” Hunt said. “Now, I’m back.”
And however this playoff run goes, Hunt says he’ll remember the whole journey of returning to KC again.
The place he wanted to be all along.
“I was at the very top-top, then lost everything, went to the very bottom. And then I just had to fight and build my way back up to the top,” Hunt said. “And I spent five years in Cleveland trying to do that and make myself a better person.”
And now?
“I had to stay grounded,” Hunt said, “and honestly, one day, this happens again.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
