Browns sign troubled running back Hunt
League still investigating video that shows him pushing, kicking woman
The Cleveland Browns believe there’s remorse in Kareem Hunt’s heart. The NFL hasn’t gotten that far.
After their own investigation, the Browns signed Hunt to a one-year contract Monday, giving the former star Kansas City Chiefs running back a second chance after a video showed him pushing and kicking a woman.
“I think we’re all appalled by it,” general manager John Dorsey said at the team’s headquarters, hours after the Browns announced the controversial signing. “It is an egregious act. We all understand that. But after doing our research, extensive research, analyzing the situation, we came to the conclusion that I am willing to help a man from a second chance moving forward to be a better person, and that’s all you can ask for in society, and that’s all I’m trying to do.”
Soon after the disturbing video surfaced in December, Kansas City released the 23-year-old Hunt, who was seen in a physical altercation with the woman last February during an argument in the lobby of a Cleveland hotel where he stayed.
While Kansas City’s actions drew public support, the move put Hunt’s career in peril and placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list. He was in his second season with the Chiefs and one of their best players after leading the league in rushing as a rookie.
Now, the Browns feel comfortable giving the Cleveland native an opportunity to make amends. Hunt, who sought treatment and counseling, could still be suspended by the league under its personal conduct policy for the incident and two others that surfaced after he was released by the Chiefs.
The league’s investigation is ongoing, and until it’s completed the Browns won’t know if or when he’ll be able to play. Hunt has not been charged with a crime.
Dorsey drafted Hunt in 2017 and feels the former Toledo back’s contrition is genuine.
“I’ve known him since 2016 and I’ve found him to be a neat, young guy,” Dorsey said. “Now let’s reiterate, the egregious act that he did commit there is no room for those types of things. We all know that moving forward. But as you go along and you start to see that this individual is truly remorseful, he understands the instances that took place there and he’s trying to make himself a better person now moving forward, and that’s all you can ask for.
Dorsey said he spoke to “numerous individuals” during the team’s investigation, adding he did not reach out to the victim, who has not spoken publicly about the incident.
PANTHERS: Eric Reid has signed a three-year contract worth more than $22 million with Carolina, a deal the safety believes is additional proof that NFL owners conspired to keep him out of the league last season.
Reid said Monday he believes he got “fair market value” after making just $1.69 million last season from the Panthers.
“If anything, it proves my point from last year,” Reid said. “I didn’t sign until the [fourth] week and did for almost the league minimum. And this year I signed a more substantial contract. And nothing has changed. I’m still the same player.”
Reid still has a collusion case pending against NFL owners, alleging that he wasn’t signed last offseason as a direct result of his decision to kneel for the national anthem alongside former teammate Colin Kaepernick in protest of social and racial injustice.
Kaepernick is still out of the league and Reid believes that won’t change anytime soon.
“Knowing what I know my hope tank is on E [empty],” Reid said.
Reid also addressed the joint statement from the NFL and the NFL Players Association in January that he was not targeted by the league with too many drug tests in 2018.
“I believe otherwise,” Reid said. REDSKINS: Coach Jay Gruden’s son Jack was arrested for being drunk in public early Sunday morning after a series of confrontations in Ashburn, Va., The Washington Post reported.
According to a report from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s office, the 22-year-old Gruden had to be separated by police after an argument at the corner of Exchange and Thorndike Streets, which is located in the One Loudoun shopping development. Later, officers spotted him in what the report calls “two other confrontations” and arrested him.
The arrest was one block north of the spot where Redskins safety Montae Nicholson was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault in December following a drunken brawl in the middle of the street. Nicholson, whose hearing was recently postponed until May, was also arrested for being drunk in public.
Jack Gruden spent the last year working as a video assistant for the team.