According to Mary Kay Cabot, Browns RB Kareem Hunt requested a trade if the team doesn’t plan to give him a contract extension.
However, Cabot says the Browns told him they aren’t trading him and want him on the team in 2022.
Hunt has been “holding in” and declining to participate in team drills in an effort to get the team to sign him to a new deal.
Per Cabot, the team’s plan with Hunt was for him to play out his contract year in 2022 and then for the two sides to revisit a potential new deal in the offseason.
She adds the Browns plan to fine Hunt for each day he skips part of practice, which is going on two days so far. She also points out the team went through a similar situation with TE David Njoku, who ended up signing a big deal with the team this offseason.
Hunt, 27, is a former third-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2017. He was in the second year of his four-year, $3.263-million contract and set to make base salaries of $555,000 and $645,000 over the next two years of the agreement when the Chiefs waived him in December following video of him kicking a woman.
The Browns elected to sign Hunt to a one-year contract worth over $1 million, not factoring in a suspension. Hunt forfeited $303,529 of his $645,000 base salary with his eight-game suspension, with a chance to earn $200,000 in per-game roster bonuses upon return.
Hunt re-signed with Cleveland as a restricted free agent heading into 2020. He was set to make $3.27 million under the second-round tender before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2021 when he signed a two-year, $13.5 million extension before the start of the season.
Hunt will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
In 2021, Hunt appeared in eight games for the Browns and rushed for 386 yards on 78 carries (4.9 YPC) to go along with 22 receptions for 174 yards receiving and five total touchdowns.
We’ll have more on Hunt as the news is available.
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In Hunt’s case, he is a good dual threat. The offense flows better when he is playing, but he has 5 years of wear-and-tear and it is hard to forget Hunt beating and kicking a woman on video four years ago. That makes him a risk, even if he has worked to rehabilitate his image. It’s a tough call for the Browns, who have a history of taking care of their own (Chubb, Njoku, Myles, Ward, Bitonio, Teller). With a salary cap, it’s hard to keep everyone happy.