Kareem Hunt could be better for the Chiefs in 2025 — thanks to an offseason change
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kareem Hunt enters 2025 with a full offseason of conditioning and team reps.
- Chiefs expect Hunt’s early 2024 form to return with improved physical base.
- Hunt and a recovered Isiah Pacheco give Kansas City a balanced rushing duo.
The Chiefs are eager to see what Isiah Pacheco can do now that he’s had a full offseason to recover from his fractured fibula. After adding good weight during the break, Pacheco looked back to his old, explosive self in training camp and the preseason.
But while Pacheco will undoubtedly take the first snaps at running back Friday night against the Chargers and beyond this season, don’t sleep on Kareem Hunt, who stabilized the Chiefs’ rushing game shortly after his counterpart’s injury last season.
In his first three games “off the couch” — as the club often described it — Hunt took 63 carries for 249 yards (4.0 yards per attempt) and three touchdowns, adding five catches for 36 yards through the air.
His production tapered off a bit thereafter, but this season, general manager Brett Veach thinks Hunt’s full campaign could look a lot more like that initial stretch.
“Kareem came back last year and did a great job for us. But in retrospect, he came back for us in a pinch, and I don’t think he had any foundation whatsoever,” said Veach in a sit-down with local writers last Thursday. “I think for that three- or four-week span, he really surprised us. I think his body took a toll for that at the end of the season.”
Unsigned last offseason, Hunt had no OTA sessions or training camp practices, which the team believes probably hurt his performance as the season carried along.
“When you don’t have the OTAs and the conditioning and the foundation, it’s like going back to the weight room,” said Veach. “The recovery isn’t the same right after. I think we were pleasantly surprised by how he has looked at his age.”
After being drafted by the Chiefs in 2017 and winning the rushing title as a rookie, the now-30-year-old was released midway through the 2018 season due an to off-the-field issue. He landed with his hometown Cleveland Browns in 2019, eventually carving at a role as a change-of-pace third-down back to four-time Pro Bowler Nick Chubb.
Hunt brings the pass-catching versatility reminiscent of Jerick McKinnon, and he has shown a knack for picking up the necessary ground in short-yardage situations.
That should play well backing up a rejuvenated Pacheco.
“I think that’s a duo that we’re really comfortable in,” said Veach. “We think that Kareem, now coming back after a year of being here ... and having a full offseason where he was here, has a good foundation now, and I think he’s looked better at camp.”
The Chiefs may not have an every-down workhorse such as Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry or Christian McCaffrey, but they are entering 2025 with a one-two punch they believe in, marked by Hunt’s calendar year to prepare inside the building at One Arrowhead Drive.
This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
