Is Kareem Hunt having the best rookie season ever under Andy Reid?

Is Kareem Hunt having the single best rookie season in nearly two decades of coaching for Andy Reid? Here’s a closer look at the competition.

Nineteen seasons.

That’s how long Andy Reid has served as a head coach in the NFL, calling the shots in an incredible 313 games in the regular season and postseason in that time. It’s a testament to his acumen, his adaptability, his popularity with players, his professionalism and his brilliance that Reid has enjoyed such stability and success in a league that allows for so little tenure.

In this time, Reid can likely say that he’s truly seen it all. He’s coached excellent players on both sides of the ball. He’s helped reclaimed the careers of players like Michael Vick, coached some of the league’s better quarterbacks and coached against the best and brightest. He’s also helped a tremendous amount of young players bloom as they enter the NFL. One player on the fast track to success is rookie running back Kareem Hunt, who has burst onto the scene to surprise everyone—Chiefs personnel, included—with such tremendous production.

Given Reid’s experience as an NFL head coach, it begged the question: is Kareem Hunt having the best rookie season ever seen by Andy Reid? With five touchdowns and 355 yards from scrimmage in his first 2 games, Hunt has become a household name and fantasy football gem in less than a month. It’s uncertain just how much he can keep this up, but he’s shown speed, strength, hands and power in his first two contests which came against the NFL’s best team and a stout front seven. It’s not as if Hunt is running on the NFL’s dregs to start his career.

As the Chiefs prepare for the Los Angeles Chargers (and the Bolts try to figure out how to slow Hunt’s ascension), we thought it’d be interesting to see how the Toledo product’s rookie year stacks up against the best rookie seasons in Andy Reid’s coaching history.

Rookies aren’t Reid’s thing

Let’s be clear from the outset: most players need some time to blossom under Reid’s coaching. Or maybe it’s that they need time to learn the scheme. Or maybe Reid likes to use veterans. Or maybe it’s a combination of all of the above.

Whatever the reason, the number of outstanding rookie seasons in Andy Reid’s tenure is a very small number. Of course, it depends on the metrics and what you consider to be “outstanding,” but let’s just say that Kareem Hunt is well on his way to claiming the title, for what it’s worth.

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Now here’s the crazy thing: plenty of players have enjoyed incredible offensive performances with Andy Reid as their head coach. It’s just that most of them never did so in their freshman year in the league. Brian Westbrook needed considerable time to get going in Reid’s offense, despite a serious need at running back even in the year he was drafted. Brent Celek looked like Demetrius Harris for two full seasons before he suddenly leaped into relevance.

Veterans can undoubtedly come in and enjoy instant impact under Reid. When Terrell Owens joined the Eagles in 2004, he put up 1,200 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns and a total of 20 over his two seasons in Philly. However, rookies need some time for whatever reason, with very few outliers.

Takes Time to Get Going

Consider the leap for Westbrook mentioned earlier. He only received 46 rushing attempts during his rookie year despite the middling presence of Duce Staley, who averaged a poor 3.8 yards/carry that season. Westbrook was a third round pick who was a threat to run and receive, but Reid didn’t really cut him loose until his third year in the league, after another learning year in his second season. Westbrook eventually became a household name, but not before putting up a total of 1,224 yards from scrimmage combined (rushing and receiving) for his first two years in the NFL.

Correll Buckhalter fared a little better than Westbrook as a rookie running back under Reid, but even that wasn’t any sort of breakout by any definition. Buckhalter averaged a very respectable 4.5 yards/carry on his way to 586 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. He added another 130 yards through the air for a total of 716 yards from scrimmage in 15 games (or about double what Kareem Hunt now has). Bryce Brown had a total of 620 yards from scrimmage his rookie season, but he’s an anomaly that actually trended downward after that (and ultimately flamed out after such a promising rookie campaign).

Wideout Todd Pinkston would eventually become the Eagles leading receiver in his third year in the NFL, but his rookie season only included 10 catches for 181 yard (that’s Junior Hemingway-esque). Reggie Brown was the Eagles leader in receiving yards in 2006, but his rookie season featured 43 catches for 571 yards.

We mentioned Brent Celek earlier just to show that even tight ends are the same as wideouts and running backs under Andy Reid—that most offensive skill positions need time to develop. Celek had 16 receptions his rookie year, good for 178 yards. Two years later, he would be targeted 112 times and would catch 8 touchdowns. However, he needed some time.

For the most part, they all do.

The Outliers

If you’re familiar with the Eagles under Reid, then you’ll know we’re missing a few key names to this point: LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson. All three stand out from Reid’s 14 years with the Eagles for their ability to come in and create an instant impact.

It’s worth noting that every one of these players didn’t come into the NFL until 2008, at least. This means that Reid was coaching for almost a full decade before any real rookie was allowed to be the center of an offensive game plan. DeSean Jackson was the first real breakout rookie under Reid and to date he still has the most yards from scrimmage of any rookie player under Reid at 1,008. Jackson had 62 catches for 912 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns during his rookie year and another 96 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on the ground.

The next year brought two new rookie phenoms in Maclin and McCoy and the Eagles were suddenly featuring the NFL’s brightest young offense. Maclin had 56 catches for 773 yards during his rookie year next to Jackson with 4 receiving touchdowns. LeSean McCoy had 945 total yards from scrimmage during his rookie year, including 637 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns total.

Each of those players would go on to much greater numbers but at the very least they provide the top-tier of rookie expectations under Reid—at least from his Philadelphia days.

What about Reid with the Chiefs?

Does Travis Kelce’s rookie season count? He lost the entire year due to an injury, but that extra year in the playbook might have given him a leg up for his official rookie year where he posted 67 catches for 862 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in his first full year in the league. That was easily the best first year for a tight end under Andy Reid, but there is that asterisk about being injured during his true rookie season.

Perhaps the best overall rookie season to date under Andy Reid, in terms of overall impact, came just last season with Tyreek Hill. Hill had 12 touchdowns, far more than any rookie in Reid’s 19-year coaching career. In fact, Hill’s 12 touchdowns via rushing, receiving and returns equal the combined rookie scoring of DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin.

Other than those two, there hasn’t been a single skill position rookie make his presence felt since Andy Reid arrived in Kansas City. De’Anthony Thomas had a scant 269 yards from scrimmage his first full year in the league. Knile Davis had slightly more than that at 317 yards, although he had 4 touchdowns which is quite a bit for a rookie under Reid.

So what about Kareem Hunt?

To get right down to it (after 1,300 words): we’re likely witnessing the single greatest rookie performance unfold in Andy Reid’s nearly two-decade long career.

If not for a tragic preseason injury to Spencer Ware, we’d likely be talking about how potent of a backfield combination the Chiefs have right now. Instead, the responsibility fell to one primary feature back and the rookie is handling things like veteran player. Even this week, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was asked about Kareem Hunt’s well-rounded game and he said it was “rare.”

"“It is rare, you know. He’s at a spot right now where he’s catching a lot of footballs, he runs with power, mentally he knows where he’s at, he’s able to block for us. So right now, he’s doing everything that we’re asking him to do and it is hard. You don’t always find that with every back, sometimes you have some weaknesses. Now, not to say that Kareem doesn’t have weaknesses, because we all have weaknesses, but so far what we’ve asked him to do, he’s doing it all pretty well.”"

At this point, rare is a bit of an understatement. Andy Reid has never had a freshman running back doing what Kareem Hunt is doing. In fact, Andy Reid has never had a rookie at any offensive skill position—running back, wide receiver or tight end—begin his career with numbers at this level. Five touchdowns in two games? 7.6 yards/carry? 177 yards per game overall? It’s unheard of.

Even if Kareem Hunt suddenly saw all of his production cut in half of what it has been, if he only averaged 85 total yards per game from here on out, either on the ground or through the air, he would add an additional 1,200 yards (1,190 to be exact) to his current total of 355 yards from scrimmage. That’s enough to be the single best year under Andy Reid and a half (in other words one-and-a-half times the rookie production of DeSean Jackson).

If all of this gets too into the weeds for you, let me conclude with just this: you are witnessing a history-making performance unfold week to week with Kareem Hunt as the Chiefs featured back. Enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

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