The Kansas City Chiefs recently brought back prodigal son Kareem Hunt. Having wandered the deserts of Cleveland for five years to atone for his sins, Hunt returned to the lineup against the Los Angeles Chargers, and it looked like nothing had changed.
Hunt racked up 69 rushing yards and averaged nearly 5 yards per carry in his return to the Chiefs. He is not about to squander this opportunity either. His increased carries also came on the heels of Carson Steele's fumble early in the game. Steele has been a promising story early in the season, but he has fumbled twice so far, which isn't a good look.
What's important to keep in mind regarding Steele, however, is that Hunt started his career out this way, too. In fact, Hunt fumbled the fall on his first career snap. That was Alex Smith's last season with the Chiefs, a year in which they opened the schedule with a game against the New England Patriots.
The early fumble was bad, but Hunt redeemed himself that night by having a ridiculously good game as the Chiefs went on to trounce the Patriots. The fumble was even crazier at the time because Hunt had never fumbled in college—ever. So to start his NFL career like that was a little eyebrow-raising.
The reason Hunt went on to have such a successful game despite that fumble was because Andy Reid and the coaching staff trusted him, and even handed him the ball on the very next drive. Many coaches bench their players after mistakes like that. Reid is different. He's not afraid to give players second chances, on and off the field.
So what does that tell us about Steele? He should be just fine. It is true that after his fumble, the Chiefs shifted the primary workload to Hunt during the Chargers game, but Steele wasn't totally benched. I think Andy Reid is taking him in stride, understanding that he's a young undrafted free agent who's still acclimating to professional football.
No one knows if Steele will be as successful (on the field) as Hunt was his first two seasons, but a couple of early-season mishaps aren't reason enough to think he's going to fail.