Running Back Kareem Hunt is Staying Home
Take notes, LeBron James. Running back Kareem Hunt is staying home here in Cleveland. Before I get yelled at, it was a joke and of course, the circumstances are much different.
The Browns are not trading Hunt despite all of the talks that he was going to be sent off to a different team likely for a 4th-round pick. He requested to be traded in training camp.
This season so far Hunt has rushed for 305 yards on 77 attempts (4.0 average per carry) and three touchdowns. This included a performance on Monday Night Football for 11 rushes and 42 yards against the Bengals.
Of course, Hunt (5’11”, 216 pounds) shares the majority of the carries with his counterpart, running back Nick Chubb. The main reason the Browns were willing to deal Hunt was that they wanted to give all of the carries to Chubb and get some value back. On the year, Chubb has 841 yards on 149 carries and 10 touchdowns.
We’re eight games into the season and those are stellar numbers.
Now, what’s so bad about laying off the load a bit to a very capable sidekick in Hunt? Well, nothing. Additionally, the two could be used together in split-back formation and other ways.
Kareem Hunt was actually born in Willoughby, Ohio and grew up here in the Cleveland area. This is his 6th season after getting drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 3rd round, pick 86.
Via NFL.com from Hunt about the potential of being traded: “I mean, I’m down for whatever, man,” Hunt said after Cleveland’s 32-13 win over Cincinnati. “I’m a football player and this is a business. So I’m ready to do whatever they decide with me. That’s either go somewhere else or here, anything it don’t matter. I love the game of football.”
If I was Hunt, I would want to be traded to a team where I get the majority of the carries instead of standing on the sideline for most of each game. This is especially if the team I’m on (despite winning on MNF), isn’t doing so well this year. However, it wasn’t really up to him now.
In 2020 at the age of 25, Kareem Hunt signed a 2-year, $12,000,000 contract with the Browns, including $5,509,000 guaranteed and an average annual salary of $6,000,000. In 2022, Hunt will earn a base salary of $1,350,000 and a roster bonus of $4,900,000, while carrying a cap hit of $6,250,000 and a dead cap value of $1,500,000.
Thus, he becomes a free agent at the end of this season and can choose where to go play ball after it’s done. On the flip side, Nick Chubb is not a free agent until 2025 (thankfully).
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Well, enjoy your time here in Cleveland for this season. We hope that the Monday Night Football win is the beginning of a great back half of the year for the Browns and you’ll be a part of it. Maybe even future seasons, too?
