Kansas City Chiefs Laddie Morse

Chiefs, NFL, in Hot Water

LadnerMorse December 5, 2018 No Comments

 

 

 

Chiefs, NFL, in Hot Water

 

by Laddie Morse | December 4, 2018

 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… it gets too hot to handle. The Kansas City Chiefs may have known about the tape of their star RB Kareem Hunt shoving and kicking a woman… and more importantly, what that tape would reveal… many months ago. That’s not just important, it exposes an ugly underbelly and laissez-faire attitude, on the part of those individuals who run the organization, about violence against, and abuse of, women. They also knew of two other offseason incidents involving Hunt so they can’t suddenly claim that they’re innocent of knowing that Hunt is… that kind of guy. So, what do you do if you’re the Chiefs in hot water and getting hotter by the day? You go out and sign Charcandrick West.

 

The Chiefs brass would know about any other… extenuating circumstances… if there were any, right? Well, there were. From an article written for ESPN called, “RB Kareem Hunt Involved in a January Nightclub Incident” it states:

 

“[Kareem Hunt] was also involved in an incident at a Kansas City-area nightclub in January, according to TMZ. A man told police that he was beaten by former NFL running back George Atkinson and other men, including Hunt, according to a police report….”

 

“A man is as good as the company he keeps” so it appears that Hunt was making the wrong choices in that department as well. It raises the question of whether or not GM Brett Veach and HC Andy Reid knew of that event and if they had a conversation with Hunt about it. You can bet they did… and that Hunt lied about that too. Otherwise, why would the Chiefs so quickly and completely cut all ties with Hunt? It’s understandable if Hunt had other troubling issues arise that the Chiefs became privy to and even more understandable if he had denied his involvement in those as well.

 

Andy Reid is strict about being lied to as I’ve noted before about that being the reason he had CB KeiVarae Russell released before the season ever started, only a few months after Dorsey had drafted him in the 3rd round of 2016. On one hand, we know Andy Reid is the kind of guy — religious, a player’s coach, and a practicing Mormon — who believes in second chances. So, what would keep Reid from extending a gracious hand of offering a second chance?

 

The answer is: if you lie to him, or you’re not completely straight with at any time, you’re history.

 

RB Charcandrick West was added on Monday because of his potential as a positive locker room influence more than anything else. In his piece called, “CHARC WEEK,” Ransom Hawthorne pointed out the significance of the Chiefs signing West when he wrote:

 

“Bringing back Charcandrick West won’t garner the attention that other moves have, but it’s a low-key brilliant signing by GM Brett Veach. In the end, perhaps the most important he’s made all year…. West brings what Chiefs need most: a morale boost.”

 

 

Re-signing West also allows the bright spotlight that was focused on the Kareem Hunt situation to be momentarily diverted to the sunny disposition that West will bring. He is very close with Spencer Ware and is good on Special Teams so the transition will be easy as well. 

 

 

The one thing West will not offer is… a bruising running back between the tackles when the playoffs arrive in one month.

 

 

 

 

 

Charcandrick West has gained 999 yards on the ground with the Chiefs over 4 years. CJ Anderson has gained 3,051 yards in 5 seasons with the Denver Broncos. Whereas CJ Anderson would have been something of a threat to Ware as a starter… West is effervescent and his personality will be received with a warm welcome by the team but Anderson would have to learn the locker room and the thick Reid playbook.

 

In any case, I think Charcandrick offers less on the field by the time the playoffs roll into Kansas City. Anderson could have offered KC a presence between the Tackles but West only really serves as a “familiar” off field personality signed to distract the team and the public from the reality of losing one of the top four backs in the league because of his heinous off field acts… which, in reality, and the long run, can’t really be accomplished.

 

So, if CJ Anderson is a better running back than Charcandrick West, then why did the Chiefs re-sign him instead? There are reasons that teams make the moves that they make other than the perception that they are choosing the best player available. This is one of those cases and West is really being used as a diversion. If you can see through the smoke screen of keeping the natives happy, the Kansas City Chiefs could easily be in a similar situation as the Dallas Mavericks.

 

Many of you are going to say, “Now wait one second” but, hear me out. The Mavericks owner Mark Cuban turned a blind eye to sexual harassment going on right under his own nose within the organization. So, tell me how this Kansas City situation is different than what was going on in Dallas? The Chiefs… including Clark Hunt… were privy to what was going on with Kareem Hunt on multiple occasions but did nothing to make sure they weren’t employing (and thereby empowering) a woman abuser who could turn violent. Here’s what team CEO Clark Hunt said about Kareem when asked about his offseason off field problems this past summer,

 

“The team’s made up of a bunch of young men,” Clark Hunt said Saturday. “They’re not always going to make the best decisions, but we have a strong support system, both with the coaching staff and also with our player development department that works with young guys and talks to them about the situations that they want to be in. Kareem is a young man, second year in the league, obviously had a very big year on the field last year. I’m sure he learned some lessons this offseason and hopefully won’t be in those kind of situations in the future.”

 

That was taken from an article written by Brooke Pryor for the KC Star called, “Kareem Hunt says he’s learned from offseason incidents, is focused on football” but… it was published on August 4, 2018. Pryor also noted that,

 

“As an organization, the Chiefs have preached the importance of fostering a team with a positive culture, full of players with high character. Those goals were the catalyst for many of the organization’s offseason roster moves. After [Kareem] Hunt’s offseason incidents, team chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said he doesn’t believe the second-year pro is hurting either of those missions.”

 

“… he doesn’t believe the second-year pro is hurting either of those missions.” What? Then Clark Hunt added, “…he isn’t always privy to those decisions made by the NFL.”

 

The NFL is “an” organization. “An”… meaning, one. By passing the buck on to the league office to execute a “non-existent” investigation makes the Chiefs CEO just as culpable as anyone involved in turning a blind eye to sexual abuse in Dallas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I highly doubt that Kareem Hunt automatically became this kind of guy after he came to Kansas City either. So, it brings the Chiefs vetting process in the pre-draft months under scrutiny… again. We know that several Chiefs players had problems in college and the Chiefs chose to draft them anyway. Demarcus Robinson, KeiVarae Russell, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill: all had off-field issues in college but Andy Reid and Clark Hunt chose to look the other way claiming that each player was “vetted.”

 

Lisas Salters, who performed the Kareem Hunt interview this past Sunday, said she also spoke with the Washington Redskins Bruce Allen about his team claiming LB Reuben Foster, who is dealing with domestic violence, and she ended that interview by asking: “After all the controversy and turmoil surrounding the signing, how can [Reuben] Foster prove to be worth it?” Allen replied, “I don’t know.”

 

I would ask the same question to anyone in leadership with the Kansas City Chiefs: after all the “looking the other way”… was it worth it?

 

Terez Paylor said this week that, “Hunt’s absence is a long-term hole that will be filled through the 2019 NFL draft.” but I don’t think he’s talking about the same “hole” in this organization that we’re talking about here, the one that needs healing.

 

 

 

 

 

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