“A redemption story”: Cleveland Browns RB Kareem Hunt claims he is 100% fit & ready to make it BIG again
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Kareem Hunt
Kareem Hunt is back and entering the upcoming NFL season completely healthy after spending a significant chunk of last year hindered by calf and ankle injuries. The Cleveland Browns RB is feeling good and he has been busy at his youth football camp in Willoughby South High School. Hunt could play only 8 games last season and was not available for the final 9 games of the regular season. He ended the season with 386 rushing yards and 174 yards from catching passes.
Hunt now appears to be back to his old self and is very optimistic about the upcoming season. “I’m good, I’m 100%. I have some time to heal this offseason and get back to it. My body is feeling good, nothing’s bothering me,” Hunt stated. He also spoke to reporters about his disappointing exit early last season, Cleveland was very close to making the playoffs but they missed it. Hunt believes if he was healthy enough to play the last two games against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, things would have turned out different.
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“Not used to sitting at home”: Kareem Hunt hates being injured and not being able to step on the football field
Hunt would do anything to get a chance to redo how the last season ended, “I would have gone out there and gave it everything I could, definitely if that chance was still on the line,” he stated. “It’s tough because I’m not used to sitting at home and watching some games on the couch and stuff like that. So it was kind of a weird thing. I don’t like that feeling, not being able to go out there and help the team, so it was very tough,” Kareem stated that he does not like to sit games out.
To ensure that he does not get injured again, he is now prioritizing stretching and rolling his calf and warming up properly. He wants to be healthy this season and believes that his presence would be a big boost to the team as he is in the last year of his contract with the Browns and is looking for a big payday as well. He wants to get a deal done, “As soon as possible.”
“I hope I get paid, whatever they decide, they know I’m going to come out there and give it my all and I’ll do whatever I can to help the team win. We’re trying to get there for sure, so I’ll see in the next couple of weeks,” he mentions. Kareem Hunt wants to be in Cleveland and finish his career in his hometown, speaking at the youth camp, Kareem emphasizes what it means to him to do things that benefit his community, “I get to do stuff like this all the time in my hometown, my high school, middle schools over there. It’s important, it’s good to be around my family, everybody’s here, coaches, it’s a lot of familiar faces out here.”
Though the running back is immensely talented and worthy of being the first option on many teams across the league, he does not seem to mind being the number two option on his team. Earlier in his career, he managed to keep those who posed a threat to his job off and was the top option, however, he seems to have gotten along extremely well with the fact that Nick Chubb is now the first option. “It’s always a blessing to have a lot of good running backs. I feel like, my whole career, I’ve been crowded with great running backs. Even at Toledo, at Willoughby South. It’s just good to have some extra backs who can get the job done too,” Hunt stated.
Kareem Hunt on the quarterback problem in Cleveland:
The Browns have a problem at quarterback, Deshaun Watson’s availability is a concern, Baker Mayfield is out and is waiting for the first flight out of there, and that leaves the team with Jacoby Brissett as its starter. Hunt speaks on this situation and what he thinks about it, “I really don’t know too much about the whole situation. If he misses it, it’s a next-man-up mentality. I’m going to be ready to play, and I know the rest of the team is still going to be ready to play. We didn’t have Deshaun last year or the years before. We’re more worried about ourselves, it’s a business, and you got to worry about yourself.”
It has been a challenge for Cleveland Browns’ players to be on good terms with Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson, though Baker remains on the roster, the last thing he wants to do is to step into the Browns building. He is currently rehabbing from shoulder surgery and is waiting to get traded before the training camp commences on the 27th of July.
“I talked to him a month or two ago, he’s doing good. He was saying he’s healed up pretty nice from the surgery he had. He’s good now,” Hunt specified. When asked if he has spoken to Watson yet, Hunt has had a conversation with him about awaiting a league suspension, “We talked a little bit, I’m going to keep it between us, but it’s a lot. I just wish him the best, tell him to keep his head up and hopefully, things work out.”
Talking about his own return this season, the running back is viewing it as a comeback story. “It is a redemption story, I think I learned a lot through the course of the NFL, from college to the NFL to the spotlight. I’ve always been a small-town guy. Nobody really knows me or whatever. Just come out there and shock everybody. I’ve always kept that with me. It’s more like a comeback and do whatever you can to get a ring, bring it home actually. That’s the biggest thing,” Hunt concludes.
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Sumedh Joshi
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