Chiefs tie down star running back Kareem Hunt to new $2.5m deal in boost for ex-Super Bowl champions

Kareem Hunt is re-signing with the Kansas City Chiefs on a one-year deal worth up to $2.5million, according to multiple reports.

Hunt, who returned to Kansas City last season after leaving to join the Cleveland Browns in 2018, made 16 appearances for Andy Reid’s team as they reached a third straight Super Bowl in 2024.

However, the 29-year-old running back failed to pick up his first championship ring when the Philadelphia Eagles cruised to a dominant victory in New Orleans.

His one-year contract at Arrowhead Stadium is said to include a base salary of $1.5m but could reach $2.5m due to a number of incentives, according to multiple reports. 

The Chiefs have already been busy this offseason as they begin plotting their redemption in 2025; with a number of high-profile names departing and several new faces joining Reid’s roster.

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who has since joined the Baltimore Ravens, and safety Justin Reid were the two most high-profile players released in Kansas City, while the likes of cornerback Kristian Fulton, tight end Robert Tonyan and backup quarterback Gardner Minshew have signed for the ex-Super Bowl champions.

Despite the disappointing end, Hunt enjoyed an impressive first year back at Arrowhead after recording 200 carries, 728 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns in the regular season.

He also put up 28 carries, 117 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the postseason.

Hunt previously spent around 18 months with the Chiefs after being selected by the team in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, before he was released in disgrace  after shocking footage of him shoving a female to the ground and kicking her in the hallway of a Cleveland hotel surfaced online.

The former Toledo college star, 23 at the time, had led the NFL in rushing as a rookie and was on course for another 1,000-yard season before his release in November 2018.

After being let go in Kansas City, he rebuilt his reputation and returned to form in three seasons with the Browns, where he racked up 599 carries for 2,391 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns, as well as 147 receptions for 1,057 receiving yards.

The wheels were eventually set in motion for Hunt to return to Arrowhead after he crossed paths with former head coach Reid at Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ wedding in Hawaii in 2022.

As Mahomes celebrated his big day, Reid caught up with the running back for the first time since going their separate ways three-and-a-half years earlier. And he was impressed by what he saw and heard from a new-and-improved Kareem following his domestic-violence controversy.

The Kansas City coach ultimately decided to re-sign him when running back Isiah Pacheco’s fractured fibula left him with a hole in his roster at the start of the 2024 season.

‘I mean, he just said he wanted to be there, I knew he had changed,’ Reid said after bringing Hunt back in September. 

‘I had spent some time with him at Pat’s wedding. He’s got a good heart, even when he went through his deal, he’s got a good heart. 

‘I had confidence that he could jump in and help us. I knew he wanted to redeem himself amongst the community and kind of get that part that people can change and ‘I’m changed’ is what he’s saying, so I think that’s been a positive.’

Mahomes was also delighted that his good friend accompanied the team on their latest Super Bowl bid, saying before the loss to the Eagles: ‘Obviously he made his mistakes, it’s well-documented. But I think more than anything he’s learned from them, he’s become a better person from learning from those mistakes.

‘For him to get back to Kansas City and to be able to get him to a Super Bowl, and hopefully to be able to win one, would just be a completion of an amazing journey of someone coming back from their mistakes and becoming a better person from it.’