Kareem Hunt addressed offseason incidents Saturday at training camp

Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt twice made headlines for the wrong reasons this offseason, and in addressing those incidents for the first time on Saturday at training camp in St. Joseph, Hunt chose to be rather brief.

“I’ve learned from it and I’m focused on football,” Kareem told reporters.

Asked what he specifically learned, Kareem spoke about putting himself in a better position to avoid trouble.

“Be in the right place at the right time,” he said. “[I’m] just going to keep thinking about football, go out there and do my job.”

The Chiefs selected the 22-year-old running back with the No. 86 overall pick in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Kareem had an outstanding rookie season—rushing for an NFL-best 1,327 yards.

That success raised Kareem’s profile from unknown draft pick to well-recognized celebrity, which may have led to some of the bad situations.

“The team is made up of a bunch of young men,” Chiefs owner, chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said, when asked about Kareem. “They’re not always going to make the best decisions, but we have a strong support system, both with the coaching staff and also 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.”

Clark added he does not anticipate any suspension for Kareem.

My take

The two situations Kareem Hunt was involved in this offseason were unfortunate, but as I researched them, it seemed to me like he was truly in the wrong place at the wrong time surrounded by the wrong people. We didn’t cover them here because, at the time, I found both incidents to be non-stories. That said, you can find them pretty easily if you wish.

Kareem’s brevity Saturday told me that he is ready to move on, which I believe is fair. That right place-right time thing is real, though, and I get the feeling he now realizes those situations could have been much worse.

Here’s to hoping that’s the last of them for a talented young player.