Could the Chiefs Ever
Re-sign Kareem Hunt?
by Laddie Morse | February 6, 2019
Could the Chiefs ever re-sign Kareem Hunt? The short answer is probably not and the actual answer is… with a lot of work on the part of the Kansas City Chiefs.
I’m guessing that the second part of that answer sounds wrong to you. Perhaps you’re thinking the responsibility is with Hunt and his rehabilitation process. The realities may be closer to Andy Reid needing to do some personal work. Consider what Phd. Margaret Paul has to say about re-building relationships.
“Depending on the situation, trust can be rebuilt. But the process of building (and rebuilding) trust doesn’t just happen. It takes significant inner work on the part of both partners.”
Since Kareem Hunt was released by the Chiefs over two months ago, he’s apparently done the necessary work to put himself in position to succeed off the field and consequently on the field as well. With stories of other teams in the league pursuing him it’s reasonable for KC fans to wonder if there’s a way for Hunt ot reconcile with the Chiefs? The difficulties may lie with what was said when Hunt was released. “The Chiefs told Hunt that he would never play in their uniform again.“
The Chiefs cutting ties with Hunt is a lot like a divorce. Court filings in those cases usually have the words for cause attached: “irreconcilable differences.” The question here is, are their differences… “irreconcilable?”
On one hand the Chiefs are expressing their caring by also saying, “they would do what they could to help him remain in the NFL if he takes the necessary steps to improve his behavior and make better decisions.”
On the other hand, the Chiefs are saying they will continue a relationship with Hunt as long as he meets their conditions.
That doesn’t make much sense. If you were married to someone who cleaned up their act and made every concession to fix what was wrong… why would you then want to help them go marry someone else?
The only reason for that might be because you could never trust them again. Right? So, then the problem is you. In this case, the Chiefs. More specifically, Andy Reid and Clark Hunt.
Margaret Paul Phd goes on to say, “Relationships flourish when partners trust each other to be honest, faithful, respectful, kind, consistent and open to resolving conflict.” We can understand that the Chiefs feel slighted because Hunt was not honest and up front with them prior to the TMZ video coming out. According to Ian Rapoport, Hunt entered into alcohol and anger management counseling shortly after his being cut and remains involved in that process.
While I get that the “fault” lies with Kareem Hunt and his dishonesty was the reason for his being cut, the only reason I can see that the Chiefs would not eventually re-sign him is their own pride. Remember, no charges have been filed by either party in this case. This was not a domestic violence case. Yes, Kareem Hunt kicked a woman knocking her to the ground while she was crouching. This comes down to lying on Hunt’s part. A sin for which he may not even be totally guilty of since alcohol was involved which sometimes makes people blackout and/or completely forget.
Understandably, bringing the serious issue of “alcohol” into this matter may complicate things but it also may explain why Hunt could not tell the truth previously.
Having had first hand experience with both alcoholism and divorce, I can tell you, a person who is an alcoholic can not be trusted. So, you may ask, why give Kareem Hunt another chance? For me personally, it’s all about second and third and fourth chances. Having helped my own brother get through alcoholics anonymous rehabilitation… and having attended Al-Anon meetings myself, I can tell you it’s all about EVERYONE changing and not just the addicted person. In the case of my brother, he’s now dried out for 20+ years, is a stellar individual in his community, and is my best friend and support.
Matt Conner of ArrowheadAddict said recently:
“Hunt is a first-time offender in the NFL and will be given a second chance without a doubt. At this point, he’s already missed five games (and maybe could be credited for more since he also missed two playoff games with the Chiefs). Depending on any further discipline from the NFL, his time served, as they say, could be applied to allow him to play immediately in 2019—or, at the very least, to only miss 1-3 games.”
When I am sometimes out and about the Kansas City area in the afternoons I turn on 810 radio, Kevin Kietzman, for a listen. Recently, he’s been touting that the Chiefs could be entertaining the possibilities of bringing Kareem Hunt back to the Kingdom. His basis for going on about that is that he recently was able to ask owner Clark Hunt about it and Clark Hunt’s non-answer was enough for Kietzman to assume that this meant Clark Hunt was clearly not denying it. Admission by omission?
Kietzman has been known to jump on a bandwagon with certain ideas and ride those ideas out to, infinity and beyond. So, it’s not surprising he’s taking this idea to the limits he’s taking it too. However, the basic notion of Kareem Hunt returning to the Chiefs may have some real merit if Andy Reid and Clark Hunt can swallow their collective pride and prejudice… well, at least their pride.
So, what does that mean? It means: “the past does not equal the future.” That one idea may be foreign to many K.C. Chiefs fans because for decades now, the past HAS equaled the future… in terms of early playoff losses. However, in this case, it’s personal. Much more personal. Margaret Paul wirties:
“… there is one commonality among my clients who have had to deal with broken trust in their relationship: They did not sufficiently trust their own instincts and ended up sublimating their needs.”
The main thing to take away from that is: just because one person has hurt you in the past, does not mean someone else WILL hurt you in the future.
Without delving any deeper into this psychoanalytical malarkey, let me just say that if Kareem Hunt is to ever be welcome into a Chiefs uniform again, it will take Andy Reid, and Clark Hunt, making some changes of their own before that can happen. You see, if they hadn’t said, “You will never wear a Chiefs uniform again” to begin with, then they wouldn’t be in this situation. Now we can see that a statement like that was just an affirmation of their own hurt and a kind of way of getting back at Kareem Hunt for hurting them.
One of the bigger conundrums will be… if Kareem Hunt ends up succeeding with another team… the Chiefs and their fans will have to accept that they have a coach whose heart is big enough to accept a felon to start for him at QB — Michael Vick — but he can’t accept a player who had lied to him — Kareem Hunt, a player who then rehabbed and expressed contrition.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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