Chiefs say Kareem Hunt has matured since 2018 shoving incident

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The Kansas City Chiefs reacted quickly to the firing of running back Kareem Hunt six years ago when video surfaced showing him shoving and kicking a woman outside his home.

On Wednesday, the Chiefs welcomed Hunt back to the team, saying he had matured.

“We just thought he needed a change of scenery and some help and to take care of his business there, and we felt like he did that,” Reid said. “He did a good job in Cleveland, and we talked to the people there and there were no problems, so we had no problem bringing him back. … It looks like he's grown up.”

“I think people deserve a second chance if they've done something to overcome the first part.”

After losing running back Isiah Pacheco to a broken fibula, the Chiefs signed Hunt to the practice squad on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Reid said Hunt could play in Sunday night's game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Patrick Mahomes said he has remained friends with Hunt, who attended Mahomes' wedding in Hawaii two years ago. The quarterback was one of the most outspoken Chiefs players to comment on Hunt's behavior in the video, but also said he was happy to have Hunt back.

“Everyone has friends that make mistakes — some are bigger than others, obviously — but at the same time, you want to make that person better,” Mahomes said. “You want to see them take the right steps to become a better person for themselves, their family and the rest of society. And I think you saw that with Kareem, and that's why I've stayed in touch with him, just to see how he's doing, how his family's doing, everything like that.”

“He managed to have a great career in the NFL, but you saw that he managed to stay out of it all and be a better person, and that's what you want to do, to make everyone a better person.”

The Chiefs selected Hunt in the third round in 2017, the same draft they used to draft Mahomes. Hunt had a great rookie season, rushing for a league-leading 1,327 yards, catching 53 passes and scoring 11 touchdowns.

When the video surfaced, he was on pace for another 1,000-yard season in 2018. The NFL subsequently placed Hunt on the Commissioner's Exempt List and the Chiefs released Hunt, citing untruthfulness when the team asked him about the incident at a Cleveland hotel where he was staying.

Hunt, 29, played the last five seasons for his hometown Browns. The most productive of those seasons was 2020, when he ran for 841 yards and caught 38 passes. Last season, he ran for 411 yards and caught 15 passes.