With the Kansas City Chiefs losing Running Back Isiah Pacheco to injury for six to eight weeks, the team is returning a familiar face on Tuesday. Will the Chiefs re-sign Kareem Hunt?
The Kansas City Chiefs made a couple of roster moves on Monday. First, they cut Tight End Peyton Hendershot and placed Isiah Pacheco on injured reserve. After viewing the results of his MRI, it was determined Pacheco will likely miss between six to eight games. That puts him back on the roster in November.
To offset that injury news, the Chiefs are dipping their toe into a familiar face to fans. On Tuesday, Kareem Hunt will visit the Chiefs, hoping to be added to the practice squad or the active roster.
Assuming he signs with the Chiefs, the decision to bring Hunt back has to be viewed with some skepticism, given his checkered past in Kansas City.
His off-the-field incident back in 2018 forced the team to cut him. It wasn’t an easy decision, but Chairman Clark Hunt made the call after he was misled by Hunt about that incident. At the time, the Chairman of the Chiefs indicated he would not return to the team. Apparently that stance might have changed.
However, with Pacheco’s injury and the real possibility that undrafted rookie Carson Steele will become the starting running back Sunday in Atlanta, there just wasn’t anybody available who had any sense of the offense.
There’s no question that Kareem Hunt was one of the best running backs in the NFL from 2017 to 2018. After he left Kansas City, he returned to Cleveland and signed two contracts with the Browns. He was a model citizen, but I’m sure he lamented his choices, which cost him his standing in the NFL and a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs.
Hunt won’t be asked to be the starter, though he can probably get up to speed fast enough to be ready in week four when the Chiefs travel to Los Angeles to face the unbeaten Chargers.
Samaji Perine was also signed after the initial roster cuts, but his contributions have been light thus far. He’s expected to get more playing time going forward until Pacheco returns.
Again, if it happens and the team signs Hunt, this move would give the Chiefs incredible depth at the running back position now and when Pacheco returns. It also means the Chiefs don’t have to rush Pacheco back into action; they can ease him back into the offense.
Either way, this is a big move by the Chiefs, but it is hardly unpredictable. After all, his agent, Chris Cabot, also represents Patrick Mahomes.
Stay tuned to Chiefs Blitz for more on this potential signing.
