Broncos free agency target: Kareem Hunt

More than likely, the Denver Broncos bring back Latavius Murray in 2023. However, with Javonte Williams working back from a pretty severe knee injury there is still question whether or not he’ll be 100% this season. That sends us back to free agency or the 2023 NFL Draft to find some depth at this position.

One interesting target could be Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt. He has ties to new Broncos running backs coach Lou Ayeni and likely still has plenty left in the tank at just 27 years of age.

The former third round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft exploded onto the NFL scene with the Kansas City Chiefs with 1327 yards and 8 touchdowns as a rookie. He was well on his way to backing that season up with another big season when a series of legal issues piled up, culminating with a video released showing Hunt assaulting a woman in a hotel. He was ultimately suspended for eight games and was signed by the Browns.

In 2019, he apparently was baptized and stated his desire to change the course of his life. Not that this means anything in the moment, but it does seem like he turned the corner in his personal life in 2019. Aside from an embarrassing traffic stop in 2020 that led to him being ticketed for speeding, Hunt has had no other brushes with the law that I could find.

This is all for the comments that I know will likely come in reaction to even suggesting signing a guy like Hunt, but the NFL is always full of second chances and the question today is whether or not the Broncos should try to sign him to a contract this year.

The biggest concern might be on the financial side of things anyway. Spotrac has Hunt’s value pegged in the $7 million a year range, which makes him a lot less interesting to me as it relates to the Broncos. Now, if his price were to come down some then I’d change my mind. I’m personally open to the idea of bringing Hunt in if the price were more in the $5 million average annual salary range. We all saw how the running back position group became a revolving door of injury. They can’t go through another season without a healthy and stable group at this position.

Hunt has proven he is a perfect kind of running back by committee type player and if Javonte Williams isn’t ready to go Week 1 then Hunt could be the veteran 1-2 punch to pair with either Latavius Murray or a rookie runner.

What do you all think? Let’s discuss this in the comments section below.