With former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt's return to the team that drafted him now being official, Hunt now has the opportunity to make things right with Kansas City after the way things unfolded the first time around.
Of course, many were skeptical that the Chiefs would swallow their pride and embrace a Hunt return, because owner Clark Hunt and General Manager Brett Veach's earlier comments made it seem as if a reunion was never on the table.
However, most forget that Veach never completely shut the door on a Kareem Hunt return, stating that a reunion down the road wasn't impossible if Hunt worked on himself.
Could Hunt come back?
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) February 7, 2019
Veach says he doesn’t speak in absolutes and it’s only been a few months since release, but “always scenarios down the line and guys have done everything asked to do through the league.”
Emphasizes again the priority is Hunt to focus on self improvement
Ultimately, when you looked at the Chiefs running back room and also at who was available, the stars kind of aligned for Hunt's return. With Isiah Pacheco out, you need someone who can handle starter responsibilities. Hunt has done that a lot more recently than any other free agent running back available and he was also one of the younger and healthier options still out there.
Now that Hunt is back in the fold, expectations are both high and low for what the Kansas City Chiefs can get out of him depending on who you ask. Sure, he's lost some juice and he didn't put up stellar numbers in his last year with Cleveland, but he was signed midseason in the wake of the Nick Chubb injury without going through preseason or training camp and still filled in admirably, scoring a whopping nine touchdowns in 2023.
Hunt is rejoining Kansas City with no training camp or preseason, but there's something to be said about coming back to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes with whom he has chemistry. He also has the chance to run behind an offensive line that is one of the best in the league. At worst, it feels like Hunt can be as good as Jerick McKinnon in the last couple of years. A slowed-down version of his old self, but still a nice piece to have in the red zone and the pass-blocking and receiving department.
Nonetheless, Hunt's return to Kansas City isn't nearly as much about his performance on the field as much as it will be about making things right and giving Chiefs fans closure.
When Hunt was originally cut from the Chiefs due to his assault at a Cleveland hotel and lying to the organization about it, it felt like such a massive blow at the time for a team that boasted one of the greatest offenses we've ever seen. A lot of people still feel like Kanas City wins the Super Bowl that year and beats the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship if Hunt never gets cut. While it was the right thing for the organization to do, it's still extremely difficult to lose a player who was primed to be one of the best players at the position in franchise history in the middle of the season.
All these years later, "What if?" scenarios still play in the minds of Kansas City Chiefs fans about how things would have played out if Hunt never got released. Maybe, we're talking about four or five Super Bowls and Kareem Hunt being a perennial All-Pro running back. Maybe, the Chiefs never draft Clyde Edwards-Helaire and go a different direction with that pick.
While those questions will remain as Hunt never regained his form with the Cleveland Browns, Hunt at least has a chance to correct things and provide closure to us as fans and the Chiefs organization if he's able to contribute in any way this season.
The Chiefs aren't getting 2018 Kareem Hunt in his homecoming to Kansas City, but if he can simply be a steady presence in the running back room and Kansas City wins a Super Bowl on top of it, doesn't that make Chiefs fans feel a lot better about the whole saga? Again, you'll never get the feeling back of having a prime Hunt in Kansas City's offense, but this was a possibility we never thought possible for several years. That's especially true because there were opportunities in recent years to bring back Hunt, yet we never heard of the team having any interest in doing so.
If Hunt is a net positive on a championship-caliber Kansas City Chiefs squad, then we will all absolutely take that. It's a redemption story worth retelling and would just feel right. Isn't that what sports are all about after all? Seeing and hearing about stories like Kareem Hunt's who fight through adversity and low points in their life to try and improve upon themselves and reclaim the success they once had? Who doesn't want to see that?
What Hunt did was inexcusable, no doubt, but Kansas City is getting a guy at running back who will be determined to make things right after what happened the first time. That's not something that was available in any other running back the Chiefs could have added.