BIOGRAPHY
Kareem AJ Hunt was born on August 6, 1995, in Willoughby, Ohio. He is a running back in the NFL.
In his early years, Hunt attended South High School in Willoughby, Ohio where he played for the Rebels football team. He rushed for 2,519 yards and 39 touchdowns as a junior and 2,685 yards and 44 touchdowns as a senior and Rivals.com rated him as a three-star recruit and committed him to the Unversity of Toledo to play college football.
Hunt's college career started in 2013 at the University of Toledo. He played in 12 games with three starts and rushed for 866 yards on 137 carries with six touchdowns. As a sophomore, he played in 10 games, which in every game, he at least rushed for 101 yards. He rushed for 1,631 yards on 205 carries with 16 touchdowns at the end of his sophomore year, and was the MVP of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl victory over Arkansas Stae after rushing for 271 yards and five touchdowns, which tied an NCAA record with Barry Sanders. In the 2015 season, Hunt finished with 973 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns but in the 2016 season, Hunt played all 13 games, leading the MAC in both 262 rushing attempts and 1,475 yards, including 200 rushing yards in the loss at #14 Western Michigan. He broke Chester Taylor's school record with his 4,945 career rushing yards and was third all-time in MAC conference history. Currently, he holds career school records for yards per rush with 6.3, and total yards from scrimmage with 5,500.
Hunt got drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 3rd round of the 2017 NFL Draft, making him the 6th running back to be drafted. He was named starting running back for the Chiefs on August 27, 2017. He made his NFL debut on a Thursday Night Football against the New England Patriots. He went on to catch two touchdown passes from quarterback Alex Smith and punched in a four-yard rushing touchdown en route to a 42–27 Chiefs win. Hunt finished with 246 total yards from scrimmage, the most ever in an NFL debut, joining Marshall Faulk and Billy Sims as the only NFL players since 1970 to debut with over 150 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns. Hunt was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for the month of September after leading the NFL with 401 rushing yards, 538 yards from scrimmage, and 8.53 yards per carry. He was named to the 2018 Pro Bowl as a rookie on December 19, 2017. Hunt was given the rushing yards title with 1,327 yards passing both Todd Gurley and Le'Veon Bell. This marked the second season in a row where a rookie led the league in rushing. He was ranked at the 33rd on the Top 100 Players of 2018.
Hunt remained the Chiefs' main running back going into the 2018 season. He played his final game as a Chief in week 11 vs the Los Angeles Rams, ending the season with a total of 824 rushing yards, 378 pass receiving yards, and scoring 7 touchdowns by air and 7 by ground. Hunt was released by Kansas City Chiefs on November 30, 2018, he then was signed by the Cleveland Browns to a one-year contract in 2019.
Hunt finished the 2019 season with 43 carries for 179 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns along with 37 receptions for 285 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.
On March 16, 2020, the Browns placed a second-round restricted free agent tender on Hunt. He signed the tender on April 20, 2020. On September 8, 2020, the Browns signed Hunt to a two-year, $13.25 million contract extension. In Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football, Hunt rushed 10 times for 86 yards and his first rushing touchdown of the season and caught two passes for 15 yards and his first receiving touchdown of the season during the 35–30 win. In Week 4, against the Dallas Cowboys, he had 11 carries for 71 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 49–38 victory. In Week 10, against the Houston Texans, he had 19 carries for 104 rushing yards in the 10–7 victory. In Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football, Hunt recorded 110 yards from scrimmage, 1 rushing touchdown, and 1 receiving touchdown during the 47–42 loss. In the Wild Card round of the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hunt rushed for 48 yards and 2 touchdowns during the 48–37 win.