Browns Digest

Kareem Hunt Has Message For Browns Fans As He Prepares To Become Free Agent

After joining the Browns under unfortunate circumstances following Nick Chubb's season-ending knee injury, Kareem Hunt became a surprising spark for his hometown team this year

Spencer German

In this story:

Kareem Hunt will go down as one of the feel good stories of the Browns 2023 season. 

He rejoined his hometown team in Week 3 under the worst of circumstances after star running back Nick Chubb suffered a grotesque, season-ending knee injury one week prior. Hunt had gone unsigned all offseason but his familiarity with the Cleveland's system and culture made him an easy choice to fill in for Chubb.

Out of a split backfeld with Jerome Ford, Hunt went on to lead the team in touchdowns this season with nine. He also scored both of the Browns touchdowns in Saturday's 45-14 loss to the Houston Texans in the opening round of the playoffs.

As Cleveland's season abruptly comes to an end, Hunt's future with the team in uncertain. Like last year, he goes into the offseason as an unrestricted free agent to be. His efforts in helping propel the Browns to the playoffs for the second time in four years could earn him a job elsewhere.

Should that end up being the case, Hunt is not only grateful for the opportunity to play for his hometown Browns, but admitted that he'll be pulling for them.

"No matter what, even if I'm playing for another team or anything I will always be happy and satisfied if they bring a championship to Cleveland," Hunt said. "It's my hometown – s*** I'd probably be at the parade cheering them on too if that were to happen. I wish nothing but the best for the organization, the Cleveland Browns. I'm happy I got to be part of this journey for so long." 

There's no one on the roster who can relate to Northeast Ohio more than Hunt, so the message clearly comes from a meaningful place. His impact goes well beyond the stat sheet as he was a key culture setter for the Browns this season.

That fact wasn't lost on Kevin Stefanski either.

"I'm so appreciative of him and the way that he played and the style which he played, the Browns head man said. "Obviously pre-injury to Nick, we didn't have a spot. But to Kareem's credit he stayed in great shape, we brought him in worked him out, he looked great. Picked back up the system right away and played really good football for us. He made plays in high leverage moments and scored touchdowns.

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"He provided huge value for us. He's a battler. Love the way he runs, the style with which he runs. Gave us a huge jolt that we needed."  

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Spencer German
SPENCER GERMAN

Spencer German is a contributor to the Northeast Ohio cluster of sites, including Cavs Insider, Cleveland Baseball Insider and most notably Browns Digest. He also works as a fill-in host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, one of the Browns radio affiliate stations in Cleveland. Despite being a Cleveland transplant, Spencer has enjoyed making Northeast Ohio home ever since he attended college locally at John Carroll University, where he graduated in 2013.

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