Kansas City Chiefs rookie running back Kareem Hunt touched the ball 11 times for a total of 63 yards last Saturday night in the 30-12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Hunt had eight rushes for 40 yards, and added three receptions for 23 yards.
But perhaps the most important play of his night came on a fourth-down attempt deep in Bengals' territory, and he didn't even touch the ball.
Chiefs rookie HB Kareem Hunt just casually taking care of two defenders in pass protection pic.twitter.com/HUZpszBlaO — Gordon McGuinness (@PFF_Gordon) August 20, 2017
Hunt took out two defenders coming off the edge and allowed quarterback Alex Smith to complete the pass (and convert the fourth down) to fullback Anthony Sherman.
"We're putting him on the edge verse some good pass rushers right now, and it's good for him to be aggressive," Smith said of Hunt Monday morning. "Selling out on the run fake, and not just [Hunt], but all those guys take so much pride in it—starting with their (running backs) coach [Eric Bieniemy]. They take a lot of pride in their blocking and knowing their pass protections, and not only knowing it, but executing them at a high level.
"Definitely for a young guy, to see [Hunt] go in and not really blink with that stuff—I think sometimes that's the hardest thing is protection for young backs. He got a taste for everything it seemed like the other night which was good, it was good experience for him."
While much is made from a media perspective on the things Hunt did with the ball in his hands, which was impressive (as were all the running backs that night), the ability he showed to do things like pass protection go much further with the guys inside that locker room.
"I thought he handled himself really well," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Hunt. "I just think overall for him, to have the confidence to get in there against that group—and I'm talking about Cincinnati and their defensive line—for our players to see him work with that first group, I thought was important."
Reid said Hunt has been slowly progressing in his pass protection abilities.
"Last seven, eight days here, I thought that kind of clicked for him in that area," Reid added of Hunt. "We had one where he and Larry (Laurent Duvernay-Tardif) kind of had a hiccup there, it was probably more Larry than (Kareem Hunt), but I felt like he was getting the hang of it. [Bieniemy] would probably ditto that, he felt pretty comfortable with him in that area. But that's always the hardest thing.
"Carrying the ball, you've got a pretty good idea of what they're going to be for the most part. But that protection when it's a bang-bang thing and you can't repeat the play and teach him-- it's for real as they would say.
"So, that was good to see him execute there."
Two guys on one play?
At least for that one play Saturday night, Hunt executed really well.
