Patrick Mahomes defended the Kansas City Chiefs’ decision to re-sign running back Kareem Hunt years after he was caught on camera assaulting a woman.
Hunt, 30, signed with the Chiefs in September 2024 after an injury to running back Isiah Pacheco.
The decision came nearly six years after Kansas City released Hunt after TMZ posted a video in November 2018 that showed him shoving and kicking a woman inside a Cleveland hotel in February of that year. No arrests were made and no charges were filed.
“What he did was wrong, but I know in his heart he isn’t a bad person,” Mahomes, 29, said during the second episode of The Kingdom, premiering Thursday, August 14, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN. “It’s how you can become better and learn from them. I think that’s something that he embraced.
He wasn’t going to let that one bad decision define who he is as a person.”
Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid, who was instrumental in bringing Hunt back to Kansas City, explained why he felt Hunt was deserving of another shot. “He learned a lesson,” Reid, 67, said on the series.
“Too many people don’t get a second chance and then they go back and they start doing bad things. They don’t even have an opportunity to be successful.” Reid added, “He did wrong. He knew he did wrong. You can’t do that.
Somebody’s gotta teach you that you can’t do that. He paid for that. We probably all run into road blocks somewhere. Some more drastic than others. He had to start over and do it the right way.”
Kareem Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates his touchdown run with Patrick Mahomes during the first quarter against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on January 26, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. Jamie Squire Jamie Squire/Getty Images After being released by the Chiefs, Hunt played three seasons with the Cleveland Browns.
Hunt made his debut with the Browns in Week 10 of the 2019 season after being suspended for the first eight games of the season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy in relation to the hotel assault video, while also recovering from sports hernia surgery.
“When you get a second chance, you just want to make the most of the opportunity,” Hunt said on The Kingdom. “Because I never thought I’d be back in Kansas City.”
In reflecting back on the hotel incident, Hunt said he was “so upset about the whole situation. I wish I could go back in time and handle it a lotta bit different.” Hunt said he was “afraid of how everybody looked at me” in the aftermath of the video’s release, saying he “didn’t even leave the house” for a while.
“You can’t erase history,” Hunt said. “When it’s all said and done, it’s done. You can’t go back in time.”
The running back made his 2024 debut with the Chiefs on September 29 against the Los Angeles Chargers and was a regular for the rest of the season, including the team’s Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Hunt signed a one-year contract extension with the Chiefs worth up to $2.5 million in March.
The first two episodes of The Kingdom premiere Thursday, August 14, on ESPN at 9 and 10 p.m. ET, with episodes 3 and 4 premiering on Tuesday, August 19, and episodes 5 and 6 premiering on Wednesday, August 20.
