Latest On Kareem Hunt
A spokesperson for the Cleveland Police Department said that no one at the department watched the security footage that showed former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt kick a woman at an area hotel in February, USA Today’s A.J. Perez writes. 
Jennifer Ciaccia, the spokesperson with the department, told USA Today in an email that detectives only follow up on felonies. This case was a misdemeanor. She added that no one at the department, including the attending officers, witnessed the footage.
On Friday, video surfaced of Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt pushing a woman to the ground and kicking her while on the floor from an incident at a Cleveland hotel in February 2018. Later that day, the team made a bold move when it decided to release the 2017 Pro Bowl back.
Hunt was officially placed on waivers on Saturday, according to Howard Balzer (Twitter link). The deadline to claim the running back in Monday at 4 p.m. ET. With the move, the Chiefs are responsible for paying the back this week since the move happened after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Joel Corry tweets. The Chiefs will not pay the final 4/17ths of his base salary of $575,250, or $153,353, and will have a cap charge of $387,976 in 2019. In terms of cap space, the Chiefs will save $135,353 in 2018, $484,762 in 2019 and $975,758 in 2020, Corry tweets.
Now the question is will anyone place a claim on him? On Tuesday, Reuben Foster was claimed by the Redskins following his release due to domestic violence issues. Washington immediately received a host of negative attention, which could keep some teams from doing the same with Hunt. While his actions deserve punishment, Hunt does not deserve banishment according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. That being said, Hunt will almost assuredly be back at some point, which could lead teams to jump at the chance to grab the services of a Pro Bowl back on a rookie contract.
Florio mentions specifically the Eagles, Browns and the Redskins as potential landing spots for Hunt, should he be claimed by the Monday deadline.
Poll: Who Will Be AFC’s No. 1 Seed?
Five two- or three-loss teams comprise the AFC’s group of surefire contenders. The Chiefs, Patriots, Texans, Steelers and Chargers are almost certain to extend their seasons into January.
But which team will wind up with the No. 1 seed? That question becomes more interesting after the events in Kansas City on Friday.
Although Sammy Watkins has missed time for the Chiefs this season, they trotted out their top offensive threats in every game. The Patrick Mahomes–Travis Kelce–Tyreek Hill–Kareem Hunt quartet led Kansas City to a 9-2 record — with losses coming by a combined six points against teams with a combined 18-4 record — and a runaway DVOA lead, but the NFL’s reigning rushing champion won’t be joining his former teammates Sunday in Oakland after the Chiefs cut him. Hunt totaled 1,202 yards from scrimmage for the Chiefs this season; no other K.C. back has more than 300. But next-man-up Spencer Ware did amass 1,368 for the 2016 Chiefs.
This may open the door for the franchise that has secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed in five of this decade’s eight seasons. Only two AFC franchises have held home field in the 2010s — New England and Denver — and no other team has represented the conference in a Super Bowl in six years.
The Chiefs have not had home-field advantage since 1997 but entered the week having the inside track to make the playoffs go through western Missouri. Football Outsiders gives Kansas City a 74 percent chance to lock down the No. 1 seed.
They have two games remaining against the 2-9 Raiders and also will be home against the Chargers, who haven’t won this matchup since 2013, and Ravens. The Chiefs must travel to Seattle in Week 16, and their margin for error may be slim.
The Patriots’ AFC East rivals are again cooperating with New England’s hopes of earning a bye and possibly the 1 seed, and three of the Pats’ final five games are against the Bills, Jets and Dolphins. Football Outsiders, however, gives the Patriots merely a 13 percent chance of securing home-field advantage. But they own head-to-head tiebreakers over the Chiefs and Texans. Despite this being a less-than-dominant Patriots edition (ninth DVOA, seventh in scoring offense, 12th on defense), they have an interesting chance to obtain home field again.
New England is 19-3 in Foxborough playoff games under Bill Belichick and 3-4 away from home in January, making that position rather important.
Football Outsiders tabs Houston, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles as long shots, with none carrying better than a 6.9 percent chance (the Texans) to avoid January travel.
Houston, though, leads the contender pack with the No. 4 DVOA defense and plays just one winning team — the 6-5 Colts — the rest of the way. The Texans are riding the longest win streak in football and are the first team to win eight straight after starting 0-3. The Steelers and Chargers will encounter tougher opposition. Games against the Bolts, Patriots (both at home) and Saints still loom for the Steelers. Road trips to Kansas City and Denver are ahead for the Chargers, who also host the Ravens in Week 16.
Los Angeles is fourth in weighted DVOA and, especially with Joey Bosa back, possesses a far superior defense to the Chiefs. Will that end up mattering come Week 15 in what’s been a one-sided rivalry as of late?
So, which one of these teams will end up with the conference’s coveted postseason real estate? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section.
Reactions To Kareem Hunt’s Release
Less than an hour after the NFL placed Kareem Hunt on the Commissioner Exempt list, the Chiefs cut the Pro Bowl running back last night. The transaction followed the release of a TMZ video that showed Hunt pushing a woman to the ground and kicking her while on the floor in an incident at a Cleveland hotel this past February.
“Earlier this year, we were made aware of an incident involving running back Kareem Hunt,” the Chiefs said in their statement. “At that time, the National Football League and law enforcement initiated investigations into the issue. As part of our internal discussions with Kareem, several members of our management team spoke directly to him. Kareem was not truthful in those discussions. The video released today confirms that fact. We are releasing Kareem immediately.”
Predictably, there have been a number of reactions and observations following the transaction, which we’ve compiled below:
- Yahoo’s Terez Paylor believes the Chiefs’ statement was “unusually firm,” noting that team chairman and CEO Clark Hunt was presumably acting in the best interest of the NFL. The writer says it wouldn’t have been much of surprise if the organization held on to Hunt and let him sit on the exempt list until there was some kind of resolution. Ultimately, Paylor believes the Chiefs were trying to avoid the narrative that they had “an indifferent attitude about violence against women,” especially following their selection of wideout Tyreek Hill and the tragic death of Jovan Belcher.
- Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com dives more into the different approaches the Chiefs took with Hill and Hunt. Hill was involved in a 2014 domestic violence case that saw him getting kicked off the Oklahoma State football team and being removed from a number of subsequent draft boards. Hill eventually pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation, and he was slapped with a three-year probation. The Chiefs still selected the wideout in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, and Smith surmise’s that their decision (especially when compared to the Hunt transaction) was attributed to a lack of video evidence. The writer notes that the Ray Rice case proves that “video makes things different,” and he also notes that Hill was already sentenced before he was selected.
- Following the NFL’s decision to suspend Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for six games following an alleged domestic violence incident, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com wonders if the league has “softened its stern, unforgiving approach to off-field misconduct.” If the NFL didn’t actively pursue video of the Hunt video, the writer believes it’s an indication that the league is looking for a middle ground between the Elliott and Hunt ordeals.
- Judy Battista of NFL.com writes that Hunt’s waiver status creates a “moral quandary” for the other 31 NFL teams. The writer says a potential waiver claim can’t be dismissed, especially after the Redskins claimed Reuben Foster (who was waived by the 49ers following his arrest for an alleged domestic violence incident). Battista ultimately believes that the biggest difference between Hunt and Foster is the presence of a video; a team can be willfully ignorant to any indiscretions if there isn’t any footage of an alleged incident.
- NESN’s Doug Kyed points out one “messed up” aspect of Hunt being waived: assuming the running back passes through waivers and signs a deal before next season, he’ll end up earning more than the $667K and $735K he was set to make via his rookie deal (Twitter link). Kyed adds that if Hunt is claimed on waivers, it’d end up being worse for him financially, and if a team plans on eventually signing Hunt, it may be in their best financial interest to claim him.
Chiefs Release Kareem Hunt
Less than an hour after learning the NFL placed Kareem Hunt on the Commissioner Exempt list, the Chiefs announced the release of the second-year back, The Kansas City Star’s Brooke Pryor tweets.
The Chiefs released a statement with the announcement of the news:
“Earlier this year, we were made aware of an incident involving running back Kareem Hunt. At that time, the National Football League and law enforcement initiated investigations into the issue. As part of our internal discussions with Kareem, several members of our management team spoke directly to him. Kareem was not truthful in those discussions. The video released today confirms that fact. We are releasing Kareem immediately.”
The move comes on the heels of a video released on Friday by TMZ that showed the Pro Bowl running back pushing a woman to the ground and kicking her while on the floor in an incident at a Cleveland hotel this past February. The woman claimed she was removed from Hunt’s apartment in the hotel for refusing to have intercourse with one of the player’s friends. She responded by striking Hunt, who broke free of his friends attempting to hold him back, knocked one of his buddies into the woman and then kicked her while she was on the ground.
When police came to the hotel, Hunt and the accuser had different accounts of what happened. While she says that she was kicked out of Hunt’s room for refusing to sleep with one of his buddies, Hunt claims that she was asked to leave and retaliated with a racial slur. No charges were filed from the incident but two police reports were created, one listing Hunt as the suspect and another listing the woman as a suspect, according to Pryor.
Regardless of which account is correct, the Chiefs made it clear that the version of the story Hunt told them was not backed up by the video. While the NFL conducted an investigation into the matter, it was reportedly denied the security footage by both the hotel and the Cleveland Police Department.
Hunt responded in a statement:
“I want to apologize for my actions. I deeply regret what I did. I hope to move on from this.”
The Chiefs wasted little time in removing the NFL’s sixth-leading rusher from their team once the video came to light. The team will now turn to Spencer Ware as it looks to wrap up a playoff spot in the coming weeks.
NFL Places Kareem Hunt On Commissioner Exempt List
As expected, the NFL announced Friday night that it was placing Chiefs starting running back Kareem Hunt on the Commissioner Exempt list, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. 
Hunt will not count against the Chiefs’ 53-man roster but will be paid. He cannot practice, play in or attend games with the team while on this list.
This outcome was a foregone conclusion after a video surfaced Friday of the second-year back pushing a 19-year-old woman and kicking her while she was on the floor in an incident at a Cleveland hotel this past February.
Hunt will stay on the list as the NFL investigates the recently surfaced video and decides on the repercussions. He will miss the week’s game against the Raiders and could miss the remainder of the season and playoffs, depending on the length of the investigation, which will include a review of the information that became public on Friday, Rapoport tweets.
According to Rapoport (Twitter link), neither the NFL, nor the Chiefs, had seen the video until today. The league reportedly made several attempts to acquire the footage but was denied by the hotel, which said corporate policy would only allow it to release the video to law enforcement. The Cleveland Police Department would then not provide it to the league.
The NFL’s statement was a brief one:
The NFL has placed Kareem Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs on the Commissioner Exempt list, and as a result, he may not practice, play or attend games. The NFL’s investigation, which began immediately following the incident in February, will include a review of the new information that was made public today.
Earlier this week, former 49ers linebacker and recent Redskins signing Reuben Foster was placed on the exempt list after he was arrested for alleged domestic violence, his third arrest in 2018, late last week. Other notable names to be placed on the list include Adrian Peterson in 2014 following child-abuse allegations and Greg Hardy for domestic violence. Peterson missed the rest of the season before returning to the field in 2015 and Hardy’s career was essentially ended.
Chiefs Send Kareem Hunt Home From Team Facility
The Chiefs sent Kareem Hunt home from the team facility on Friday after disturbing new footage of his February brawl emerged, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com tweets. From here, Graziano believes that Hunt will be placed on the commissioner’s exempt list pending a final decision, though determination hasn’t been made just yet.
Hunt got into an ugly brawl in a Cleveland hotel last year, but the full details of the event were not made public until Friday afternoon. The leaked security footage shows Hunt in a screaming match with a 19-year-old girl and kicking her while she is down on the floor.
The commissioner’s exempt list would effectively serve as a paid suspension for Hunt. Since Hunt was not arrested or suspended in the wake of the incident, the NFL will likely park the running back on the sidelines while they conduct a more thorough investigation. Of course, many are wondering why the NFL did not obtain the video footage sooner, particularly after the Ray Rice incident of 2014.
Rice was initially suspended two games when he was indicted on aggravated assault charges in 2014. The league, however, did not see the full video, which was later released showing the Ravens running back hitting his now wife in the face in an elevator. After receiving national attention, the NFL moved to indefinitely suspend the back and revised its policy toward domestic violence.
The NFL’s leading rusher as a rookie in 2017, Hunt currently ranks third in the league in offensive touchdowns with 14. While an investigation is underway, the AFC West division leaders will likely rely heavily on veteran Spencer Ware.
Latest On Chiefs, Kareem Hunt
In February, Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt was involved in a skirmish with a 19-year-old woman. On Friday, disturbing video evidence of the incident was released by TMZ. 
Security footage from a Cleveland hotel shows Hunt arguing and shoving the woman, who claims that she was ejected from Hunt’s room after refusing to have intercourse with one of the running back’s friends. The woman responded by striking Hunt and friends moved quickly to hold him back. Hunt broke free, accidentally knocked one of his mates into the woman, and sent them both flying into a wall. The woman appeared dazed by the impact, and Hunt kicked her while she was on the ground.
When police came to the hotel, Hunt and the accuser had different accounts of what happened. While she says that she was kicked out of Hunt’s room for refusing to sleep with one of his buddies, Hunt claims that she was asked to leave and retaliated with a racial slur.
No arrests were made at the time, but the shocking footage is likely to result in some serious consequences for Hunt. The Chiefs have only just learned about the video, but it’s hard to imagine Hunt being allowed to suit up for Sunday’s game against the Raiders. Beyond that, Hunt’s status for the remainder of the season may be in jeopardy.
The Chiefs were aware of the incident, but apparently only saw the footage on Friday when it was made public. During training camp, CEO Clark Hunt addressed the matter and clearly did not have all of the details.
“The team is made up of a bunch of young men,” Hunt said. “They’re not always going to make the best decisions, but we have a strong support system both with the coaching staff and with our player development department that works with young guys and talks to them about the situations that they want to be in. Kareem is a young man, second year in the league, obviously had a very big year on the field last year. I’m sure he learned some lessons this offseason and hopefully won’t be in those kinds of situations in the future.”
Hunt, 23, led the league with 1,327 rushing yards last year while adding eight scores on the ground and three through the air. He also caught 53 passes for 455 yards, positioning him as one of the best running backs in the NFL. This year, Hunt is averaging a solid 4.6 yards per carry with 14 touchdowns in total.
The Chiefs lead the AFC with a 9-2 record and can clinch a playoff berth with a win this weekend. The Chargers aren’t far behind at 8-4, but the Chiefs can effectively clinch the division if they beat the Raiders and the Bolts lose to the Steelers.
If Hunt is suspended, the Chiefs will likely turn to Spencer Ware as their primary tailback. Damien Williams and Darrel Williams are also on the roster to serve as backups.
Fritz Pollard Alliance Recommends HC Candidates
Every year, the Fritz Pollard Alliance releases a list of recommended minority head coaching candidates. This year’s edition is nearly double in size and features the likes of Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores and Cowboys defensive backs coach/defensive passing game coordinator Kris Richard, as Mike Jones of USA Today writes. 
Here’s the complete list of suggested candidates:
- Keith Armstrong (Falcons special teams coordinator)
- Teryl Austin (Former Bengals defensive coordinator)
- Eric Bieniemy (Chiefs offensive coordinator)
- Jim Caldwell (former Lions and Colts head coach)
- George Edwards (Vikings defensive coordinator)
- Brian Flores (Patriots linebackers coach)
- Leslie Frazier (Bills defensive coordinator)
- Raheem Morris (Falcons assistant head coach/wide receivers coach)
- Hue Jackson (special assistant to the head coach of the Bengals; former Browns head coach)
- Kris Richard (Cowboys defensive backs coach/defensive passing game coordinator)
- Duce Staley (Eagles assistant head coach/running backs coach)
Flores, the de facto defensive coordinator of the Patriots, figures to be a hot coaching candidate this year. The same goes for Bieniemy, who is helping to guide one of the league’s most dangerous offenses.
Others on this list, such as Jackson and Austin, seem unlikely to garner real consideration for head coaching positions this offseason. The Browns turned the corner after dumping Jackson and appointing Gregg Williams as the team’s interim head coach, which isn’t a great endorsement for the offensive guru. Meanwhile, the Bengals hired Austin in January but fired him earlier this month as his defense was one of the lowest ranked in the NFL.
Eric Berry To Return To Practice
The Chiefs appear to be on the verge of receiving a much-needed defensive boost. Eric Berry‘s rumored practice return will commence on Wednesday, Andy Reid said.
This will mark the first time the three-time All-Pro safety’s practiced in more than 3 1/2 months. Afflicted with Haglund’s deformity, a heel condition, Berry has not been able to work out with his teammates since training camp.
While the 29-year-old dynamo is not out of the woods yet, with setback avoidance a key component in a return to game action, this is a major step. The Chiefs did not place Berry on IR this season. He can play in Sunday’s game against the Raiders if that’s the course of action the Chiefs believe is prudent. That may be pushing it, given what Berry’s been through, but no setbacks would put him en route to come back soon.
Kansas City currently resides atop the AFC. This franchise has not earned home-field advantage since Marty Schottenheimer‘s penultimate season, 1997, and has not qualified for a Super Bowl in 49 years. The Chiefs did not make any moves prior to the trade deadline, and as the football-following world witnessed in the electric 54-51 loss to the Rams, their defense needs all the help it can get. This would qualify as a significant on-field addition.
The Chiefs signed Berry to a safety-record six-year, $78MM contract in the 2017 offseason but have only seen him play in one game since that deal was finalized. Berry ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in Week 1 of last season. This heel condition affects his other foot.
This wouldn’t even qualify as Berry’s most improbable return, obviously, with the former No. 5 overall pick having surmounted cancer earlier in his career. He returned in 2015 to post back-to-back first-team All-Pro campaigns.
Kansas City boasts a considerable DVOA advantage over the second-best team, doing so despite carrying this metric’s No. 25-rated defense. Berry would be the second safety to return to action after a lengthy absence, with Daniel Sorensen coming off IR earlier this month.
Chiefs Expect Eric Berry To Practice Soon
- The Chiefs have waited for months for Eric Berry to show progress, and it looks to finally be happening. After a report previously indicated the three-time All-Pro safety was close to returning to practice for the first time in three-plus months, Rapoport tweets the Chiefs indeed expect Berry to practice this week. Berry’s dealing with Haglund’s deformity, a heel ailment, and hasn’t practiced since training camp. Since signing his $13MM-per-year extension, Berry’s played in just one game. But the Chiefs did not place him on IR this season and clearly believe a return could well happen soon.