Kareem Hunt‘s free agency tour continues. After visiting with the Saints and Colts earlier this week, the running back is meeting with the Vikings today, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter).
[RELATED: Kareem Hunt Leaves Colts Visit Without Deal]
It was relatively quiet on the Hunt front until earlier this week, when the veteran running back was in New Orleans and Indianapolis for visits. He left both of those workouts with contracts, but it’s now clear Hunt is weighing multiple opportunities before making a decision.
Hunt found a home in Cleveland over the past four seasons, including a 2020 campaign where he finished with 1,145 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns. His 2022 campaign started with a trade request and ended with him averaging a career-low 9.3 touches per game in 17 games for Cleveland, and he’s remain unsigned through this point of the offseason.
Similar to both the Saints and Colts, the Vikings could offer Hunt a somewhat significant role on offense. Alexander Mattison is expected to take over for Dalvin Cook in the backfield, but the team lacks experienced depth behind their new starter. Ty Chandler got into three games as a rookie, Kene Nwangwu has been injured during training camp, and rookie seventh-round pick DeWayne McBride is likely destined for a ST role.
Hunt’s pass-catching ability could make him a worthy third-down option, and he’s shown the ability to be productive in a starting role while filling in for Nick Chubb in Cleveland. The Vikings are currently armed with more than $10MM in cap space, providing them with some financial might over Hunt’s other two suitors. The Saints reportedly backloaded their offer to Hunt with incentives while keeping the total amount roughly on par with what the Colts are prepared to pay without bonuses.
The Hunt is on!
I thought Ty Chandler looked good against the Seahawks last night but the RB room does seem a little thin.
Vikings should sign higher character players
Hunt was trying to do the right thing that night. He was having a party, and when his people carded that racist chick she flipped out and started using some really unflattering terminology to describe Hunt. She was under 21 and he insisted that she leave because he was not trying to get a minor intoxicated at his party.
Unfortunately he responded in a way that was a bit harsh when she started dropping the ‘N’ word. I watched that video several times and the media exaggerated it a bit. He was never charged for the misdemeanor crime, so not as serious as people presume. Believe it or not the Chiefs would have kept him on the team had he been 100% honest about the situation when they asked him about it initially. Personally I really like Hunt and I am rooting for him. I hope he continues to bull-rush his opponents on and off the field.
He was involved in 3 assaults in a short period of time.
link to amp.cnn.com
Yeah, the Vikings should be signing higher character players like those that were part of the infamous “Love Boat” scandal…lol.
Hahahahah
Wow an out of date reference for a team not a single player was involved in. You stay classy nimrod.
Sterling Sheppard was involved, if I’m not mistaken.
The Vikings had their Love Boat cruise long before the Giants conceived their Boat Trip.
Won’t be surprised if they sign. Mattison is unproven as a bell cow
Not going to lie, Minnesota could be an outstanding spot for Hunt.
I hear Dalvin Cook is available.
RANDOM STUPID QUESTION – If he were to resign with the Viking, would that reduce the cap hit or would the new contract not cut into that?
KC would make a nice return home environment!
I’d like to see him return to Kansas City.
Dumping Cook to sign Hunt seems like a sideways move. Yes, it should be decently cheaper, but the production you’d get with your own player seems like it’d be decently higher. This seems like there’s a chance that this could be the last hurrah for the current Vikings unit; it feels odd to not try and have Cook stay for a final year to make it happen, especially if the Vikings have acknowledged that they need veteran help at the HB spot anyway.
Every team in the NFC North seems to have major areas of weakness so it wouldn’t surprise me if it resembles the NFC South of 2014 where 7-8-1 was good enough to claim the division title. I imagine Mahomes can’t wait to get at those 3 defenses that were ranked 29th or worse last year.
Brian Flores is going to under a lot of pressure to fix that defense for a team that hid those deficiencies well a year ago. It is, however, his first year, so unless the Vikings consider this year to be a one season window, Flores should get some slack if things don’t go well. Aaron Glenn is going to be under even more pressure, I think, because he’s had a couple of seasons in Detroit and because he’s been under scrutiny before.
The Lions, unlike the Vikings, have two advantages in that they are a very young unit for the most part and that they improved significantly in the later stages of the year. So while the comparable future looks more positive for them defensively, I think that an unsatisfactory performance will see Glenn canned faster than Flores.
I don’t see the Vikings losing more than six games at most, but now it’s completely speculative. The Lions may regress, but I would not be surprised to see them play on the upper end of expectations. If that goes along with the Vikings playing on the lower end, Detroit might take the division with double digit wins. I don’t see Green Bay or Chicago ending the year with winning records, though I suppose I could see the Packers having nine games as a high ceiling.
The story says he left both Indianapolis and New Orleans “with contracts.”
How is that possible?
Is it a typo, and should have said “without contracts”?
…or should have said “with contract offers”?
Contacts. It was misspelled.