A Cleveland Browns reporter says that running back Kareem Hunt will not be returning to the team in 2023.
Unless a player is willing to leave on his own terms, a rare occasion in today’s NFL, the truth is that almost every player will hit the proverbial wall at some time. Some players are more durable than others, and some positions tend to hold up better over time, but nearly every single NFL player struggles with the reality that their body can no longer keep up with the competition around them—either to produce well against opposing teams or even to make an active roster with some franchise.
That might be the point at which Kareem Hunt is—a familiar face for Kansas City Chiefs fans and a current free agent running back. Hunt has spent the last few seasons with the Cleveland Browns, but veteran reporter Terry Pluto says that Hunt’s days with the Browns are over. In his latest column, he says clearly that Hunt is “not coming back to Cleveland.”
Pluto, of course, could be wrong. Nothing is absolute and very few reporters are given full access to all angles of a front office’s decision-making process. That said, Pluto’s latest report states that Hunt has been “slipping” in terms of his speed and there’s a reason he remains unsigned by the Browns and others on the free agent market.
It wasn’t so long ago that Hunt was leading the NFL in rushing yards in his rookie year, back in 2017, a young player who looked like he was ready to join Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as long-term vital components for a historically-good offense with Patrick Mahomes under center. Instead, Hunt’s behavior off the field—specifically physically assaulting a woman and lying about it to the organization—led to his release from the team.
Hunt ended up reunited with former Chiefs general manager John Dorsey in Cleveland where he formed a productive backfield tandem with Nick Chubb in recent seasons, but this past year, he averaged a mere 3.8 yards/carry on 123 attempts for 468 rushing yards.
Hunt, who will be 28 years old in August, has 895 career carries for 4,025 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns in his career, good for a 4.5 yards/carry average.