What’s Chiefs’ RB plan with Kareem Hunt elevated? Andy Reid speaks on depth chart

Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid has additional options at running back this weekend after the team activated Kareem Hunt from the practice squad earlier this week.

So what should Chiefs fans (and fantasy football players) expect this week regarding the workload split between Hunt, rookie Carson Steele, and veteran Samaje Perine?

“I don’t know. We’ll just see how things go,” Reid said Wednesday. “I’ll play it by ear with him (Hunt). We’ve got three good running backs, and so we just get him back into the swing of things and see how it rolls.”

Reid did reveal that Hunt would “rotate in” Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, partly so the coaching staff could “see how he does.”

The situation is likely more complex because of how Steele performed last weekend.

In his first NFL start, the undrafted rookie out of UCLA carried it 17 times for 72 yards in the Chiefs’ 22-17 road win against the Atlanta Falcons.

“Listen, I thought he did a nice job for his first game. I thought he did a real nice job,” Reid said of Steele. “And he’s got to fix a couple things on (pass) protection, but he’ll take care of that. And the run game, he was hitting the right holes and working to daylight. He was finishing runs.”

Though Steele’s longest run was just nine yards against Atlanta, he consistently pushed forward for extra gains late in plays. According to Pro Football Focus, Steele posted 3.06 yards per carry after contact, which ranked ninth among 20 NFL running backs who had at least 13 rushes.

Reid was also pleased that Steele had worked to correct some ball-security issues the team had seen from the previous week when he lost a fumble.

“He gives you an honest down, and he’s gonna run hard,” Reid said. “He’s a big kid. He’s gonna come at you.”

Hunt, meanwhile, was signed to the practice squad last week after Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco broke his fibula against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2. Pacheco is expected to miss about two months.

It was an unlikely reunion. KC drafted Hunt in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and he started every game over two productive seasons before video surfaced of an off-field incident where he shoved and kicked a woman.

Hunt later admitted that he was not honest with the Chiefs when they spoke to him about the incident. The Chiefs released him in late November 2018.

The question is how much burst he has left. Hunt is 29 — an elevated age for a running back — and last season with the Cleveland Browns ranked among the league’s worst in NFL Next Gen Stats’ “Rushing Yards Over Expectation” measure.

One possible explanation for the lack of production: Hunt had sports-hernia surgery after the season, saying the injury impacted him in 2023.

“Honestly, I fought through that all last year, and I actually got that (surgery) done this offseason,” Hunt said. “And I feel great. So I’m glad that I was able to get healthy, and not have that nagging me the whole season. I’m excited to see being fully healthy out there for these weeks to come.”

Hunt spent much of last week with the Chiefs scout team, which allowed him to get carries against the first-team defense in its preparation for the Falcons. Reid reported that the back had “a good week of practice.”

“Looks like he’s in pretty good shape,” Reid said. “So now the next step is just getting him in the game.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Wednesday that in practices he could “still see the explosiveness” with Hunt.

“He took that last week as his mini-training camp, and he would finish every run, and run back and get it again,” Mahomes said. “I thought we did a great job in the run game last week with the running backs that were there, and so it’ll be nice to just add Kareem in there, let him get going and kind of have another dimension to that run game.”

Steele was used to a heavy workload in college stops at Ball State and UCLA. He still admitted Wednesday in the locker room to being “a little beat up” following Sunday’s 17-carry performance, which required him to take extra care of his body while getting additional treatment.

The 21-year-old Steele, who logged a full practice Wednesday, also wore a black wrap around his left ankle during the portion of the workout that was open to reporters.

Steele’s biggest negative from Sunday was pass protection. He missed a blitzer, for example, during a first-quarter red zone play that contributed to quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ interception.

On Wednesday, Steele acknowledged he missed a few of those assignments.

“But I was kind of frantic, looking all over the place for everything. I had a couple chips off the edge and stuff like that. So overall, something I need to fix for sure,” Steele said. “But I had a few good things that flashed here and there. But again, it’s something you can work on in practice.”

Perine seems entrenched as the team’s third-down back; he primarily played that role last week, with six carries for 25 yards to go with his three catches for 15 yards.

For his part, Hunt said he was hoping to prove he was the same type of back the Chiefs had during his previous stint in 2018.

“I believe I’m very capable of that still,” Hunt said. “And I’m excited to go — help shock the world and show them I still got.”