Hunt, Browns reach deal to provide depth at RB
BEREA — Kareem Hunt, who spent the previous four seasons with the Browns, has agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal to rejoin the team, the club announced Wednesday.
With the Browns losing Nick Chubb for the season to a knee injury, Hunt will provide experienced depth behind second-year back Jerome Ford, who had 106 yards rushing on 16 carries and a touchdown catch in Monday night’s 2622 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Hunt won the NFL rushing title as a rookie with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017. He ran for 1,874 yards and 16 touchdowns in 49 career games with the Browns, including 468 yards and three touchdowns in 17 games with Cleveland last season.
The reunion could be considered surprising, given that Ford is set to remain the starter and Hunt had expressed displeasure with his role as the Robin to Chubb’s Batman prior to last season. He asked for a trade during training camp, then held himself out of all team drills for a 48-hour span of camp in protest.
While he never missed a game, he gave strong indications he was hoping to be dealt at the trade deadline. A day before the deadline, he famously did his postgame interview following a Oct. 31 win over the Cincinnati Bengals while wearing a Joker mask.
“I mean, I’m down for whatever,” Hunt said that night. “I’m a football player and it’s a business. 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.”
He did not re-sign with the Browns as an unrestricted free agent. In fact, Hunt didn’t sign with anyone. According to multiple reports, he got well down the road toward a deal with both the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, but the sides couldn’t close the deal.
Hunt is a native of Willoughby, Ohio.