Kareem Hunt signs with Browns after devastating Nick Chubb injury
The Browns are bringing back the other half of the dynamic backfield that led the team in past seasons.
Two days after Cleveland lost Nick Chubb for the season, the team signed Kareem Hunt on Wednesday.
Hunt, 28, signed a one-year deal worth up to $4 million, according to NFL.com.
The Browns also officially placed Chubb on injured reserve Wednesday.
Re-signing Hunt seemed like a foregone conclusion for the Browns in the wake of Chubb’s injury that could affect Cleveland’s chances of making the postseason.
He visited the team Tuesday and underwent a tryout, and the deal came together quickly.
Hunt will now begin his fifth season with the Browns, and has tallied 1,874 rushing yards, 973 receiving receiving yards and 23 total touchdowns during his time in Cleveland.
His 2022 campaign featured drama and an underwhelming season.
Hunt requested a trade and sat out training camp, which drew the ire of the coaches, according to the AP.
The Browns tried to trade him leading into the trade deadline, but did not complete a deal.
Hunt rushed for 468 yards in 17 games, along with a career-worst 3.80 yards per carry.
Those underwhelming statistics factored into why the team didn’t re-sign him this offseason, and Hunt struggled to find work despite visiting with other teams like the Colts and Saints.
Chubb’s unfortunate injury then opened the door for Hunt to return and provide a complementary option to 2022 fifth-round draft pick Jerome Ford.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Tuesday that Ford will be Cleveland’s featured starter.
Hunt’s pass-catching ability figures to give him plenty of opportunities.
“You don’t replace Nick Chubb,” Stefanski said, according to ESPN. “You just don’t do that. Great players in the league, you look around, they go out. It’s always not one person that replaces a player of [Chubb’s] caliber. So, everybody’s got to do a little bit more, a little bit more everywhere.”
Hunt is entering his seventh NFL season after breaking into the league as a rookie with the Chiefs in 2017, when he led the NFL in rushing.
His career took a turn the following year after video surfaced of him pushing a woman in the hallway of a hotel in downtown Cleveland, leading to his release.
