Kareem Hunt wants to stay in Cleveland but his past makes that difficult

Kareem Hunt wants to remain with the Cleveland Browns.

The Cleveland Browns have arguably the most talented backfield in all of football with Pro Bowl-caliber running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, and stud fullback Andy Janovich. The three are expected to lead the way for a dynamic rushing attack that will be the focal point of the team’s offense. Yet the entire system could fall apart if Hunt is unable to stay out of trouble.

The embattled running back already has run into trouble while a member of the Browns, being pulled over in January while having open containers of alcohol in his car. A minor misdemeanor for just having the alcohol. After smelling marijuana the officer investigated and Hunt admitted that a found bag of marijuana was his and that if given one, he couldn’t pass a drug test. The officer did not test Hunt to see if he was impaired, nor did he arrest him for a possible OVI charge.

This incident from January was just the latest issue that Hunt has faced. In 2018, Hunt kicked a woman in the face after a scuffle broke out in a Cleveland-area hotel. The incident led to Hunt being cut by his former team, the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Browns picked him up shortly thereafter on a two-year deal and gave him a zero-tolerance policy. Hunt to his credit told ESPN’s Jake Trotter that the moment was out of character for him;

“I would say that was out of character,” Hunt said. “I’ve been working to become a better person each and every day. Definitely not looking for anything like that to happen again. … I’ve got to do better. Shouldn’t have done it. Ready to move on from that.”

Hunt went on to have a fairly productive year in minimal games played, and now that his past incidents are presumably behind him, he looks forward to hopefully staying near his hometown of Elyria, OH. As far as his plans for the future go, Hunt talked about staying local.

“I’d definitely like to be a part of something like this,” Hunt said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “Everybody is here that I care about. I know everybody in the whole town. I would not mind playing for the Browns for a long time.”

Yet the problem will be if Hunt can actually stay clean, sober, and out of trouble. When the Browns signed Hunt there was a lot of blowback from people. They were upset that Hunt was again benefiting from an NFL system that allows players to break the law and rarely, if ever, pay for it.

If Hunt is truly reformed and has distanced himself from past issues, then the running back will have all year to showcase what he’s truly about these days. If he breaks another law because he can’t keep himself out of trouble, then it’s time to cut ties with him and move on. The team already has a bad enough reputation that those in charge don’t need to be making it worse.