Star RB Kareem Hunt Released from Chiefs Prior to Playoffs

Kareem Hunt, the former star running back for the Kansas City Chiefs and third round pick in the 2017 NFL draft, was released soon after TMZ released a video of an altercation with 19 year old girl on November 30, 2018.

The altercation with the 19 year old woman was at Hunt’s Cleveland apartment in February 2018. It involved him pushing her to the ground and then kicking her, with his friends trying to calm him down. Later that day, Hunt, one of the top 10 running backs in the league for 2018, was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, stating he could not practice or play with the team. Later that day, the Chiefs released him.

According to Bleacher Report, Chiefs CEO and co-owner Clark Hunt said, “We were obviously shocked by the video, like anybody who saw it, and we’d had some issues with Kareem not being truthful with what happened that night, and we just really felt for everybody’s best interests we needed to head in a different direction.”

Through Clark Hunt’s statement, it was revealed that one of the main reasons for Hunt’s release was that he lied to the Chiefs when asked about the incident.

Hunt requested an interview with ESPN shortly after the release, which took place on December 2. When asked about the incident in the interview, he said that that night he had friends over, and that he didn’t know the woman he got in an altercation with. “It was just a disagreement. I honestly just wanted her to leave,” he told ESPN. He went on to say “That’s not an excuse. I’m not the person in that video.”

Hunt is currently a free agent  who is expected to play at some point in the 2019 season, and if he does he has to serve a six game suspension. With his time off, he said he will learn from this, get help if needed, and take this very seriously.

The Chiefs, Hunt’s former team, are in the playoffs, going head-to-head with Indianapolis Colts this Saturday, January 12.