Kareem Hunt Permitted to Practice Starting Monday
Suspended Browns running back Kareem Hunt was cleared to return to practice on Monday, the team announced.
Hunt is currently serving an eight-game ban for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy stemming from an altercation in a Cleveland hotel last year. Video showed the running back, then with the Chiefs, shoving a kicking a woman.
The incident occurred in February of 2018 while Hunt was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs and the video surfaced via TMZ on November 30th of that same year. The Chiefs responded by releasing Hunt, saying he had lied to the team about the incident. The NFL suspended him indefinitely for the remainder of the 2018 season.
The Browns signed Hunt in the offseason fully expecting a hefty suspension from the league. The NFL later announced Hunt would be suspended eight games. Today, they have determined Hunt is allowed to practice starting today in preparation for his return in two games.
Hunt has largely been an invisible man, even when it came to preseason. He did little in the games he played and it was revealed he had suffered a sports hernia, so he's been recovering from that much of the time he's been out. Unfortunately for him, the NFL did not allow Hunt access to the Browns medical staff during his suspension the way they did Antonio Callaway while serving his 4-game suspension for a failed drug test.
Hunt represents a big boost to the Browns offense along Nick Chubb, who is among the best backs in the league this year. It will give them a dynamic 1-2 punch in the backfield and the hope is that Freddie Kitchens and his staff find ways to put both of them on the field at the same time.
Hunt's return should offer Cleveland another backfield option alongside Nick Chubb, who ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing yards.
