ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have supported running back Kareem Hunt as he seeks to resume his football career after assaulting a woman in February of 2018, and that included attending his baptism Sunday.
In showing their continued commitment to help Hunt, both on and off the football field, Browns coach Freddie Kitchens and general manager John Dorsey attended his baptism at the True Vine Baptist Church in Cleveland.
“We care about Kareem as a person,” Kitchens said at the 20th annual Cleveland Browns Foundation Golf Tournament at Westwood Country Club in Rocky River Monday. “We went there for Kareem Hunt as the person and not the football player.
“The thing we did yesterday was not about football at all, it was about Kareem as the person. That’s where it is going to start with us here. I have said that from the get go, that’s the way I have always approached coaching even at Mississippi State or North Texas or wherever I have been. It’s always been about the person. I feel like John is the same way. We were there for Kareem Hunt, not Kareem Hunt the football player.”
Hunt was released by the Kansas City Chiefs on November 30, 2018 when video surfaced of him pushing, and later, kicking a woman at The Metropolitan at The 9 complex in Downtown Cleveland in February of 2018. Since that video became public, reports of other incidents involving Hunt have surfaced.
The 23-year old Hunt was released by the Chiefs immediately after video of the incident was released. During the video, Hunt was seen having to be physically restrained by another member of a group that had gathered in a hallway.
Since his release, Hunt has sought professional help for anger management and taken on a more active role in the community, which is something that “is totally on him,” according to Kitchens.
“I just know that we wanted him to know that he felt supported as a person,” Kitchens said. “I care about Kareem Hunt 50 years from now. What’s going to make him have a better chance at succeeding in his life 50 years from now? And that’s not lip service from me and that’s not lip service from John Dorsey.”
Kitchens said Hunt was surprised to see him and Dorsey at the baptism, asking them “what the hell we were doing there.”
Well, Kitchens believes continuing to support Hunt away from the field is an important part of the process. That process has included weekly visits to schools in the Northeast Ohio community to speak with high-school kids about avoiding the same mistakes Hunt has made.
“This is the first time in their lives a lot of them that are kind of on their own,” Kitchens said. “They’re going to make bad decisions, but the key is to learn from those decisions. And listen, one of the truest forms of bravery is showing your scars. You show your scars so people don’t make the same mistakes that you make.
“Kareem has done an exceptional job of showing his scars out in the public and some of these schools and things he’s visited without any advertisement at all. He’s chosen to do that, to sort of show his scars, so maybe some of the other kids...the kids in his surroundings don’t make the same mistake. To me, that’s the ultimate sign of bravery and unselfishness of showing your scars so people can learn from them.”