With their preferred starting quarterback out until December, the Browns will need another strong season from their ground attack. Kareem Hunt should be expected to be part of that effort.
The team has no intention of granting trade request Hunt made earlier this month, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot (via the Pat McAfee Show). Hunt should be expected to be with the Browns throughout the season, Cabot offers. Considering the former rushing champion’s importance to an offense suddenly featuring questions at quarterback and wide receiver, it is unsurprising the Browns plan to hold onto their high-end backup.
Browns brass has communicated to Hunt they want him in Cleveland this season, Cabot adds. Hunt is going into the final season of the two-year, $12MM extension he signed back in 2020. Since Hunt attempted to stage a hold-in measure upon requesting to be moved — an effort that lasted two days — he has since returned to full practice. Hunt aimed for a Browns extension this offseason but remains tied to a deal that has since been outpaced by several backs.
Deshaun Watson‘s 11-game suspension certainly stands to amplify the Browns’ run game, and Hunt — as one of the best backup running backs in recent NFL history — will be one of its crucial components behind Nick Chubb. The team also has D’Ernest Johnson, whom it re-signed this offseason, crowding the backfield.
Chubb’s three-year, $36.6MM deal is in line with the new going rate for starting backs, but this price range mostly formed after Hunt signed his deal. Since September 2020, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook and Aaron Jones signed for between $12MM and $15MM per year. Christian McCaffrey tops the class and the running back market altogether ($16MM AAV). Hunt’s AAV dropped further, to 14th among running backs this offseason, when James Conner, Leonard Fournette and Chase Edmonds signed deals north of $6MM per annum.
Of course, Hunt signed his contract coming off a year in which he served an eight-game suspension in connection with multiple off-field incidents in 2018 — including a video that showed him assaulting a woman — and opted to remain Chubb’s often-used backup rather than trying to see what he could get on the 2021 market. Considering what the 2021 market became — thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a reduced salary cap — that may have been a good decision. But the contract he is currently tied to is out of step considering his talents and place as a former rushing champion.
Hunt turned 27 this month. His place alongside Chubb has allowed him to limit wear and tear compared to his Chiefs stretch. Hunt logged 325 touches as a rookie in Kansas City. His top Browns total is 236, from 2020. Last season, injuries limited the Cleveland-area native to eight games (100 touches). Hunt’s reduced mileage could still allow him do well on the 2023 market, but he will need to stay healthy to best position himself here.
I would be OK with him going back to the Chiefs
Ditto
He never should have been released.
Play the deal you signed.
How quickly we all forget:
Hunt had only two options while on the NFL Commish Exempt List. Chicago, where Nagy was going to have Trubisky mentor him or Cleveland where then GM Dorsey drafted Hunt.
To get off the exempt list and back on the field Hunt had to undergo anger and alcohol counseling and management, personal mentoring with a pastor, and he had to attend women’s group sessions. Maybe he does deserve a new contract?
He does deserve a new contract, NEXT YEAR.
I agree 1000% with you…
It was more of a joke for having to do the pastor and women’s group stuff…..
pLaY tHe DeAl YoU sIgNeD
“Don’t reach for more than you’ve already been handed” is kinda hilarious coming from a guy who calls himself Macbeth.
No Macbeth selected in the NFLs inaugural draft but William Shakespeare was chosen third overall by Pittsburgh.
You’re a hypocrite. The teams don’t honor the deals that are signed.
Yes, they do. Guaranteed money is guaranteed money. Non-guaranteed is non-guaranteed. Players released are released as per the current rules – it’s up to the NFLPA to negotiate change.
Teams honor the deals they signed if the cut players by paying players guaranteed money that was AGREED UPON BY THE PLAYER.
You sign the deal, play the deal.
Chiefs or Eagles
No thanks in Philly.
Browns can’t trade him they need all the convicts they can get. They are trying to beat the Raiders of the past and have more convicts then they did at any one time.
I know technically Perv is not a felon but should be.
Those convicts you speak of came from the gangsta fanbase the Raiders had in L.A.
Cincinnati would be a better comparison — once upon a time you couldn’t be a Bengal unless you were arrested.
I think the AFC North wins
Yeah, the teams are run by choir boys right. You’re another hypocrite.
Bengals, Browns, Ravens and Steelers have all had accussed rapists, women beaters, murderers, and sexual predators. That’s a tough division
I don’t understand how his contract is “out of step.” He’s a back-up running back. Are there other back-ups around the league making significantly more than him? What about back-up running backs who also have an 8-game suspension and an assault on their record (not to mention brutal, disgusting video evidence of said assault)? I’d say he’s probably making way more than he could have ever expected. Might be time to just play and be grateful.
Another hypocrite you are. Team officials get in trouble too. Owners don’t lose much money from their violations, but players should?
How does this make me a hypocrite? I’m not an owner. Show me where I let an owner off the hook. Then, look up the definition of hypocrite. You clearly don’t understand hypocrisy. Before you go throwing out accusations you might want to make sure you at least have a clue what you’re talking about.
Wait, never mind on my previous response. You clearly missed the entire point of my post. Show me where I said Hunt should “lose money.” I’ll wait.
“hypocrite” he must have just learned a new word, he has used it in every post.
I’m a browns fan and love the one two punch we have with Hunt and Chubb. But honestly these guys sign these deals then want traded , finish your damn deal you signed , he should be happy he even has a job in the league and that Cleveland gave him a second chance.
Teams terminate deals early ALL the time. You’re just another hypocrite.
It is because the players are stupid and haven’t negotiated guaranteed contracts like MLB has.
Hey Brownsbacker9…..your buddy Watson has a guaranteed contract
I’m not Brownsbacker and I am glad Cleveland is on the hook for a stupid contract for what will destroy their team.
He got it individually through his agent, but it isn’t a normal NFL contract, idiot. Why should I expect you to understand that?
what is a “normal” NFL contract?
One that is not guaranteed. All MLB contracts are fully guaranteed. Watson is the only one that I know of that has ever gotten a fully guaranteed contract in the NFL.
I think with Hunt the issue isn’t the money. It’s the short window RBs have to make that money.
Its hard to do as a backup or shortside committee back.
I think he wants an opportunity to show he can do what he did in KC and earn lead back type of money… he can’t do that in CLE.
Teams terminate deals early ALL the time. You’re just another hypocrite.
Oh, I see you just have a soap box. I’m seeing the pattern now. You don’t read posts in full before responding. You just scroll through and look for key words and then jump to your one, single, simple, go-to thought. It’s hard work to have an actual, thoughtful response.
“hypocrite” now for the 5th time.
With Hunt and Watson lined up the Browns deserve to suck.
It’s not surprising to see that Cleveland is saying this now, even without the Watson developments. Even if Watson had played, retaining Hunt would inevitably give Cleveland its best chance on what certainly is an “all-in” window.
Halfway through the year, though, I’d have expected (and still do) Cleveland to be more receptive to offers. They can get a few more games out of the Chubb/Hunt combination, and hopefully build value for Hunt in a trade. Injuries midseason and contenders gaining steam (being more desperate for pieces as the season progresses) should make for better offers for a player who could be a starter or a backup at a high level.
Hunt got seriously outplayed by D’Ernest Johnson last season – thus there isn’t likely to be much trade interest in a third string running back.
Third string RB but he’s the backup kicker too…