The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Browns preparing for Hunt backlash
The Browns are preparing for a public relations storm for signing running back Kareem
Hunt less than three months after a video surfaced showing Hunt brutally shoving and kicking a woman at a Cleveland hotel.
Browns GM John Dorsey has been through this before when he drafted wide receiver Tyreek Hill in 2016 as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Hill was kicked off the Oklahoma State football team in December 2014 after being arrested for choking and hitting his girlfriend, who was eight weeks pregnant at the time. Hill eventually pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation. He received a sentence that included three years’ probation.
Hill served his probation, and the domestic violence charge has been expunged. There have been no further incidents. He made the Pro Bowl each of his first three years in the NFL and is in line for a huge contract extension.
Dorsey knows there is a risk to giving Hunt, the former Willoughby South High School star, a second chance. He knows women’s groups and others will think he is tone-deaf to problems in our society. But he is confident Hunt, given the opportunity, will not let him down in the field of public opinion. There is very little risk in signing Hunt for what he can do on the football field.
“You guys always hear me talk about men of character,” Dorsey said on Feb. 11 during a hastily called news conference at Browns headquarters in Berea. “I’ll stand by that. I see a lot of men of character who commit egregious acts, but at the end of the day, they learn from those acts, moved forward and became better people. Again, I believe in second chances.
“We all saw the video. We all saw it was an egregious act. We understand that, but to understand the depths and complexities of it and of the person, let’s find out what’s in that person, and I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe there is a humble soul within that person.
“He is truly remorseful. I do want to add this: This is one of those situations that by no means is it a guarantee. He’s got to earn the trust of everybody within this organization, with everybody within the community of Cleveland moving forward.”
Hunt, drafted by Kansas City in the third round in 2017 when Dorsey was the Chiefs’ GM, led the NFL with 1,327 rushing yards as
a rookie. Hunt was well on his way to another 1,000yard season with 824 rushing yards when the Chiefs cut him the day the video was released with five games remaining.
It is fair to wonder if an apologetic fourth-string running back would get a second chance for the same offense, just as it is fair to wonder whether a wide receiver deep on the depth chart would get as many chances as Josh Gordon did for all his drug-related suspensions.
But is it fair to say Hunt, 23, should never play again? That is not fair, in my opinion.
The only way Hunt can show he is truly remorseful is by getting a second chance and showing others, not just football players, that a bully guilty of domestic violence can change. He will be under a microscope every second
he is away from the Browns facility.
The league should come down hard on Hunt after concluding its investigation. Dorsey speculated that could happen before the end of February. An eight-game suspension in 2019 seems adequate. Added to last year, that would be taking 13 game checks from Hunt. The deal he signed with the Browns for 2019 is only for around $1 million.
Dorsey said the Browns will have a “zero-tolerance policy” with Hunt.
“We felt very comfortable after doing all our research that we were OK with this moving forward,” Dorsey said.” I know this, if you talked to anybody who’s been in the locker room with Kareem Hunt, they’ll tell he was a really good teammate.”
If the research into
Hunt’s character was as thorough as Dorsey claims it was, and if Hunt is as apologetic as he and the
Browns say he is, then Hunt deserves the opportunity to prove he is a changed man.