The Kansas City Chiefs have done so much winning and taken home so many Super Bowl trophies that it's easy to forget that Kareem Hunt wasn't around for most of it.
After a Pro Bowl rookie season in 2017, in which Hunt led the NFL with 1,327 yards rushing, things quickly unraveled in Kansas City. The Chiefs released the former third-round pick on Nov. 30, 2018, after a violent video of a physical altercation with a woman in a Cleveland hotel surfaced -- an incident about which he wasn't wholly truthful when alerting team brass.
While the Chiefs were lifting Lombardis, Hunt spent the next five seasons in Cleveland as Nick Chubb's running mate.
In 2024, the 29-year-old went jobless all offseason until injury struck in Kansas City. Isiah Pacheco suffered a fractured fibula in Week 2. K.C. needed aid. In stepped Hunt. He'd go on to lead the Chiefs with 728 rushing yards on 200 carries with seven touchdowns.
In Sunday's AFC Championship Game win over Buffalo, Hunt again led K.C. with 64 rushing yards and a score on 17 totes. Now, he'll play in his first Super Bowl.
Andy Reid said he's seen a much more mature Hunt this time around.
"I mean, he just said he wanted to be there, I knew he had changed," the Chiefs coach said Monday, via the team's official transcript. "I had spent some time with him at Pat's (Mahomes) wedding. He's got a good heart, even when he went through his deal, he's got a good heart. I had confidence that he could jump in and help us. I knew he wanted to redeem himself amongst the community and kind of get that part that people can change and 'I'm changed' is what he's saying, so I think that's been a positive."
For much of the Chiefs roster, Super Bowls have become old hat as they attempt to complete the NFL's first-ever three-peat. For Hunt, it's a chance for his career to come full circle in Kansas City.
