Kansas City Chiefs: Kareem Hunt blending speed and power

Early in the Kansas City Chiefs 2017 season, rookie running back Kareem Hunt has emerged as a major weapon in the offense. He’s doing it by being a complete player.

It is still early in the 2017 season, but Kansas City Chiefs rookie running back Kareem Hunt is turning heads around the league. The Chiefs third round pick out of Toledo has been an unstoppable force through three games this year. He’s doing it with both speed and power out of the backfield.

Coming out of college, the biggest knocks on Kareem Hunt were that he wasn’t an elite speed or power guy. He showed good agility, and excellent vision. However, he wasn’t known for being able to break away from pursuing defenders, or for plowing through tacklers. So it’s been a bit of a surprise that he’s done both at the NFL level.

This is actually a very rare combination of talents. Speed and power like we’ve seen from Kareem Hunt so far are generally found individually in players. Only the most elite running backs are able to demonstrate both. That explains why Hunt is putting up some elite numbers right now.

Kareem Hunt is spectacular. #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/YsydwRHuo8
— Jeff Rosen (@jeff_rosen88) September 24, 2017

How Do You Stop That?

Through three games this year, Kareem Hunt has 401 yards rushing on just 47 carries. That’s good for 8.5 yards per carry…which is obviously a ridiculous mark.115 of those yards have come off of a pair of long runs where Hunt put his speed on display. The bulk of his remaining yards have come through tough running right up the middle.

This is extremely difficult for opposing defenses to handle. On the one hand, you have a guy who runs with excellent power and breaks tackles. This means you need to get extra players in the box to contain him. However, if he finds a crease in that, he has the speed to get away from your back end players and run for big yards. It’s a dual threat.

On top of that, Kareem Hunt’s physical style of running wears a defense down. On top of contending with 300+ lbs blockers, the defensive players then have to handle Hunt running into them at full speed. Players can only handle so much of that in a game before they just don’t have enough to stop him.

That’s Just The The Beginning

My favorite part of all this? Those are just the natural gifts that Kareem Hunt has. We haven’t even gotten into the technique and skills that Hunt brings to the table. When I did my scouting report on Kareem Hunt all the way back in February, the things that stuck out to me were the polished skills he was showing.