ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — This time last year, Kareem Hunt was back in his hometown of Cleveland, anxiously awaiting an opportunity with no idea what role fate would play.
“I was, you know, hanging out with my family, taking my boat out every day and just, working out, staying in shape, man, waiting on the call,” Hunt said after practice Thursday. By the time training camp rolled around last year, Hunt was fully healthy after sports hernia surgery in February, but still waiting.
“I didn’t know when I was gonna get picked up, or when I was gonna have the opportunity, or if I was gonna have the opportunity to play again.”
The call took longer than Hunt expected before fate intervened. In the Week 2 game against Cincinnati, Isiah Pacheco suffered a fractured ankle that would keep him out for 11 weeks. The call came that night — get to Kansas City for a tryout, and if all goes well, sign a contract. That’s precisely what happened two days after Pacheco’s injury. Just 14 days after Hunt was sitting at home waiting for a call, he took to the field for the Chiefs in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Hunt, who turns 30 on Aug. 6, spent this offseason knowing where he would play, and now he gets the benefit of training camp instead of working out on his own, taking his boat out on the lake, and waiting.
“It’s going to help me a lot,” Hunt said about this year’s offseason and training camp. “It’s tremendous, to be able to get a full offseason and be out here and these hot boy summer days and just able to work with the team and eat healthy and stuff like that. So it’s a big advantage.”
What does eating healthy mean for Kareem Hunt?
“I’m just cutting out fried food and stuff like that. No fried chicken, no stuff like that. And, you know, no snacks, no Little Debbie’s or nothing like that,” said Hunt, who listed Swedish Fish and Twizzlers as his favorite snacks. “It’s one of those things you just got to get your body, you know, right for the long run, when I’m 35, 36.”
As Hunt gets ready for the upcoming season, his ninth in the NFL, he’s still amazed by the journey he’s taken over the last year.
“It was just one of those things that you just got to wait for opportunity to call. And it happened to be here,” Hunt said.
“I mean, that was just, you know, God must have had his hand on my shoulder or something, because it’s crazy. How things (are) going full circle.”
Notes & Observations
Practice No. 3 was the longest so far at 1 hour, 49 minutes, but Chiefs’ players received a bit of a reprieve as overcast skies and a brief rain shower brought cooler temperatures onto campus. The sun started to return by the end of the session with a temperature of 76, a significant improvement from the past two days.
The horn started practice at 9:13 a.m. for the opening stretch session. The team then broke into an individual period (9:19) and group install (9:28) before quickly moving into a full team session at 9:43.
For the first time in camp, however, Patrick Mahomes didn’t open up the day with a completion. A pass intended for Xavier Worthy was broken up by safety Chamarri Conner, who had banked coverage on the receiver. In seven reps, Mahomes completed two passes to Rashee Rice, including a spectacular catch by Rice where he elevated to high point the ball and pulled it in with one hand above his head.
The second-team offense’s struggle began right from the start with defensive end Charles Omenihu tipping a Gardner Minshew pass intended for running back Brashard Smith. Minshew missed connections with receiver Skyy Moore and tight end Jake Briningstool. Minshew finally completed a pass when he corralled a high snap and delivered a quick throw to running back Elijah Young.
When the first-team rotated back in, the focus turned toward run and run-pass option (RPO) plays. Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt and Elijah Mitchell received reps with the first team, with Smith, Young and Carson Steele following in the lineup. Mahomes and Travis Kelce teamed up for a big play on one of the RPOs.
On the next play, however, defensive end George Karlaftis forced Mahomes to pump fake to avoid a blocked pass. The ball slipped out of the hand of Mahomes as he pulled back, however, leading to an incompletion. It was the second day in a row where Karlaftis affected a throw by Mahomes and forcing a negative offensive play.
The field goal was attempted at 10:03. Kicker Harrison Butker displayed good distance on his leg, but left two short kicks perilously close to the uprights. Both kicks would have been judgment calls by the officials in the back of the end zone, whether the kicks were good after sailing over the uprights.
At 10:09, the squad broke into two groups: a 7-on-7 group and a combo of offensive and defensive line drills in the far end zone. The offense was naturally more crisp in the 7-on-7 period. Mahomes completed all but one of his opening set of passes, a throw to Kareem Hunt broken up by Jaylen Watson. Backup quarterbacks Minshew, Bailey Zappe and Chris Oladokun combined for seven completions in a row until Mahomes returned and broke the streak with a throw behind Worthy.
Smith, who has looked fast and sharp as a receiver out of the backfield, had a drop in 7-on-7 where he looked up too late on a throw from Mahomes. Once his execution is more crisp on those timing routes, Smith should emerge as an effective offensive chess piece.
The final team session started at 10:28, and the defense again held the upper hand. Mahomes and Hollywood Brown combined for the first of two highlight plays in this session when Brown snared a pass high in front of him, outstretching his arms to secure the ball over the middle.
Tyquan Thornton, who is competing for one of the final receiver spots along with Nikko Remigio, Skyy Moore and Jason Brownlee, nearly pulled off a highlight-reel catch on a corner route from Mahomes. He appeared to make the catch, but lost control of the football when his momentum took him to the ground.
On the second rotation, Mahomes and Brown combined for another outstanding moment when the quarterback delivered a sidearm throw that bent around a defensive lineman into the hands of Brown at full speed on a crossing route for a significant gain.
It’s perhaps fitting that the final offensive play of the day was a missed connection between Oladokun and receiver Elijah Badger with cornerback Darius Rush in coverage.
The final session, a kickoff and kick return period, began at 10:48. Remigio and Smith, the current odds-on favorites as the kick return duo most likely to start the season, lined up first, followed by Moore and Thornton, Jalen Royals and Nohl Williams, and Jeff Bassa and Jimmy Holiday.
Injury Report
No news remains mostly good news for the Chiefs through the first three days of camp, with no additions to the team’s injury report.
Right tackle Jawaan Taylor (knee), cornerback Kristian Fulton (knee) and tight end Tre Watson (abdomen/groin) remain on the physically unable to perform list, and they continue working out in the training tent along the sideline.
Coaching Fellowships
Among the list of Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship coaches working in Chiefs training camp are two familiar names — former Chiefs offensive lineman Cameron Erving and longtime coach Juan Castillo.
Humphrey said the pair are great assets to have in camp. Erving spent nine seasons in the NFL, including three seasons in Kansas City, where he won a Super Bowl ring in 2019. Erving was the No. 19 overall selection for Cleveland in the 2015 NFL Draft, and later also spent time with Dallas, Carolina and New Orleans.
“Cam played here, so he knows the system really well,” Humphrey said. “He’s been in a few different spots in the league, so he has a ton of knowledge, and he’s awesome to work with. Connects really well with the players, too, and he’s a mentor that you can look up to because he’s been in the shoes before. You know, he knows the experience, he knows everything about it.”
Castillo is an unusual fellowship candidate in that he has more than 40 years of experience coaching at the NFL, college and high school levels, and is a highly respected offensive line coach. He spent 18 seasons on the Philadelphia staff as tight ends coach, offensive line coach and defensive coordinator. He also worked with Baltimore, Buffalo and Chicago in offensive line and run-game coordinator roles, and is currently an offensive analyst for Michigan at the college level.
“Everybody knows him,” Humphrey said. “So he’s someone that has a wealth of knowledge, just really smart, understands technique really well, and he loves working with guys. You know, he’s been having a lot of fun being able to teach techniques and hang out with the guys and just kind of share his wisdom.”
Other coaching fellowship participants in camp include:
- Hillary Butler, former NFL linebacker (1994-2000), played for the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe, earning All-NFL honors in 1998 under the team’s defensive coordinator and linebacker coach Steve Spagnuolo. Earned a Super Bowl ring in 1998 with the Denver Broncos.
- Mike Bond, recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach for Concordia-St. Paul. He played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin-Stout while earning a master of science degree with an emphasis in alcohol/drug abuse and child/adolescence counseling.
- Ryan “Chili” Davis, special teams coordinator at Florida A&M University, is a former assistant at Washington and New Mexico State. He played defensive back at Campbell (2008-11), and started his coaching career there as an assistant to the head coach.
- CJ Edwards is an offensive analyst at Akron. He was a wrestler at Mount Union, and one of his first coaching stops was as running backs coach at his alma mater in 2023.
- Eli Hamidzada is a recent graduate from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, and is pursuing a master of Science in Organizational Development and Knowledge Management. He also works as an assistant to former NFL general manager Charley Casserly.
- AJ Hampton is entering his third season at Virginia Military Institute, earning a promotion to offensive coordinator this year. He played wide receiver at Mount Union and finished his career at Emory & Henry, where he started his coaching career as an offensive quality control assistant in 2017. Other stops in his career include Virginia Tech, West Virginia State, Midwestern State and Florida State.
- Nate Pagan, assistant wide receivers coach at Villanova, where he coached former Chiefs receiver Jaaron Hayek. He’s entering his ninth season with the Wildcats and has been in his current role since the 2019 season.
- Marc Saldana was a former quarterback at Texas Tech under coach Spike Dykes, and he’s entering his fifth season as quarterbacks coach at Widener University.
Andy Reid on Honey Badger Retirement
Yeah, well, legacy is great ball skills, great player, great guy. Always been a team captain everywhere he’s been at, including here. He got a Super Bowl championship here, and he was a leader on defense. So I think he’ll leave all that behind, but that’s not even talking about if he chose to do that throughout his career, he probably would have set all the records in punt return though, he was tremendous at that. Anyway, I could go on and on about him, the Honey Badger. That’ll be part of the legacy also. He would sit on the bench there, and he’d make all kinds of funny noises. You know, not only did he have the blonde hair, but he’d be over there (badger noises) making all those noises with — what a great kid. Loved it, loved coaching him.
What’s Next?
The Chiefs have a final ramp-up period practice kicking off at 9:15 a.m. Friday. There is a chance of rain in the morning, so fans attending practice should monitor social media updates in the event that practice moves indoors due to lightning.
After an off day Saturday, the team returns to work Sunday for the first padded practice of training camp. Tickets for Sunday’s practice are $6 and must be reserved online.
Tickets are free for most practices, and parking is $7 per vehicle. Tickets and parking passes are available only online and must be reserved in advance.
