The NFL may not be vigilantly calling penalties on players for lowering their heads during games, but that does not mean they’re not levying fines.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt was hit with a fine for nearly $27,000 for unnecessary roughness against the Denver Broncos on Monday night.
Hunt lowered his head when initiating contact near the red zone:
The NFL is trying to rid the game of such maneuvers. Even if they’re missing opportunities to call penalties, they’re making up for it with fines.
The 911 call in the wake of Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt’s alleged February assault has gone public.
TMZ Sports obtained audio of the call in which a 19-year-old woman accused Hunt of assaulting her in Cleveland.
The woman sounds tearful, telling the dispatcher “I was assaulted and need help.” When asked about the alleged perpetrator, she said “I think his first name is Kareem” and described him as a 5’10” black male with a heavy build.
Hunt has denied any wrongdoing and the woman was accused of calling him a racial slur after he asked her to leave his apartment. Police reports were made against both Hunt and the woman, but no arrests were made at the scene.
Though nothing appeared to come of this, Hunt got into more trouble later in the offseason. Even though he hasn’t been charged, it’s not a good look for him.
For the second time this offseason, Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt is making headlines for the wrong reasons.
TMZ reports that Hunt was involved in an alleged physical altercation with a man at the Bay Lodging Resort in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, over the weekend. Hunt had reportedly been partying at the resort all weekend and got into a verbal confrontation with a man on Sunday morning, and the alleged victim told TMZ Hunt punched him in the face.
The man says he was not seriously injured and did not seek medical attention, and Hunt was not arrested. The alleged victim says he is not planning to press charges. A resort official confirmed there was an incident involving Hunt but did not get into detail.
Back in February, Hunt was accused of shoving a woman during a dispute outside his apartment. A friend of the 22-year-old made it seem as though Hunt was the victim in the incident.
Hunt a breakout second season in Kansas City with nearly 1,800 total yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns, but the Chiefs can’t be happy with the situations he has put himself in this offseason.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt was accused of shoving a woman outside of his apartment.
According to the police report, via Courtney Astolfi of Cleveland.com, 19-year-old Abigail Ottinger accused Hunt of shoving and pushing her as he sought to get her and a group of friends to leave his apartment/hotel complex. Hunt allegedly sought to get them to leave upon learning they were below the legal drinking age.
A friend of Hunt’s said in the report, however, that Ottinger had used a racial slur against Hunt. A friend of Ottinger is also accusing her of hitting her in the face when the friend attempted to get her to leave the apartment while they were standing outside Hunt’s door.
Police reports exist with both Hunt and Ottinger listed as suspects. A minor misdemeanor charge was assessed at the scene, but it was unknown who, exactly, was charged.
Hunt is fresh off a rookie season that saw him lead the NFL with 1,327 yards.
One of the big criticisms about the Kansas City Chiefs’ second half collapse in their wild card playoff game against the Tennessee Titans on Saturday was that they didn’t give the ball to Kareem Hunt enough. Hunt certainly agrees.
Hunt, who led the NFL in rushing during the regular season, said after the 22-21 loss to Tennessee that he “of course” felt he should have had more touches in the second half.
The Titans dominated time of possession in the second half, while the Chiefs barely did anything offensively. They just didn’t even have many opportunities in the second half. But where they really missed out was on their possession after falling behind 22-21. They only gave the ball to Hunt once that drive, which ended in a turnover on downs. That’s when they should have put the ball in Hunt’s hands more.
Week 9 of the NFL season got started on Thursday with a surprisingly easy win for the Jets over the Bills. On Sunday, there were far fewer upsets, as Seattle losing at home to Washington was probably the only surprise. But there were a ton of blowouts rather than close games, which means many players and teams disappointed.
Here are the 15 biggest disappointments of Week 9 of the NFL season.
A.J. Green, WR, Bengals
We have no real way of knowing what, exactly, caused Green to so quickly lose his cool with Jacksonville cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The young defensive back has certainly shown an ability to get under the skin of opponents, but the normally mild-mannered Green’s outburst was quite unexpected. Green put a choke hold on Ramsey and threw several punches during a fight with the cornerback, leading to the ejection of both players. Green’s disappointing day finished with one catch for six yards on two targets. The only consolation for him was that he at least managed to get Ramsey ejected too. Still, one of the league’s finest receivers must keep his composure better than that.
Blair Walsh, K, Seahawks
Walsh became the first kicker in three years to miss three first half field goal attempts, offering no relief for the sputtering Seahawks offense. They weren’t particularly difficult field goals, either, as they came from 39, 44, and 49. It was so bad that the kicker elected to stay out on the field during halftime to try to get a feel for things.
Walsh had previously missed only one of his 13 field goal tries, so he had a bit of rope, but this really wasn’t an acceptable performance from a guy who’s had serious issues before — ironically enough, against Seattle. Poor weather conditions or not, Walsh needs to perform better. Those points are extremely meaningful especially in a game determined by three points (Washington won 17-14).
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There can only be one NFL MVP, but each team can claim their own most valuable player, no matter how good or bad the franchise’s season goes. Sometimes the team’s MVP is an elite defender, a star quarterback, or a remarkable playmaker, or even a special teams player, if the rest of the team is struggling a lot.
Here’s a look at each NFL team’s MVP so far in 2017.
Arizona Cardinals — Chandler Jones, LB
The former New England Patriot is once again proving to be the defensive rock for the Cardinals, setting records along the way. He has picked up eight sacks in just seven games thus far in 2017, and is proving to be a nightmarish foe for opposing blockers and quarterbacks. The gaudy numbers are great, but Jones has also been valuable in other ways. He’s good against the run and has put plenty of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, even when he doesn’t get the sack.
Atlanta Falcons — Devonta Freeman, RB
In what has been a disappointing year for the Atlanta offense, Freeman has continued to stand out and produce no matter what is happening around him. His 2017 thus far has been every bit as solid as his 2016 was. Freeman is averaging 4.7 yards per carry and has piled up five rushing touchdowns in six games. As Matt Ryan and his fellow offensive players have failed to hit the heights that they did in 2016, Freeman has simply been steady and reliable.
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Through the first five weeks of the NFL season, some familiar names sit atop the offensive statistical categories. Quarterbacks like Rodgers and Brady lead many passing categories, while receivers like A.J. Green and Antonio Brown top many receiving categories. But there are some fresh faces in the league doing big things, as well as a few surprises emerging with their clubs.
Here’s a look at each NFL team’s best offensive skill player so far in 2017.
Arizona Cardinals — J.J. Nelson, WR
Larry Fitzgerald still has more catches and yardage, but in terms of big plays, it is Nelson who has paced the Cardinals this season. He has the highest yards per catch of any Arizona wide receiver, and his two touchdowns are tied with Fitzgerald for the team lead. It’s only a matter of time before he is the No. 1 receiver in Arizona. Nelson is already getting plaudits now — his five catch, 120 yard performance in Week 2 earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Atlanta Falcons — Devonta Freeman, RB
Impressively, Freeman alone has five touchdowns this season — as many as quarterback Matt Ryan has thrown for over the same amount of games. Those five touchdowns are good enough to tie him for the NFL lead with Leonard Fournette of the Jaguars. His yardage total doesn’t jump off the page — at 285 yards, he’s only 13th in the NFL — but he’s scoring touchdowns. That’s been huge for the Falcons in a year where Ryan hasn’t quite rediscovered his best form yet.
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Andy Reid will continue to let Kareem Hunt feast.
The Kansas City Chiefs head coach was asked on Monday if the team planned to be more conservative with the workload of the first-year phenom.
“No, I think we’re OK with how we’re using him,” said Reid, per Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star.
Reid also brushed off the idea of Hunt hitting the rookie wall.
“I’ve seen enough make it through and I’ve seen some that hit a wall,” he went on. “If I didn’t [give him the ball] then you’d ask me if I needed to give him the ball more. I went through that with Jamaal [Charles], at first it was too much, then not enough, it goes back and forth. I just go off of the feel I have and the experience, we’ll be all right there.”
The 22-year-old Hunt has gone scorched earth on the NFL through his first three career games, rushing 47 times for 401 yards and four touchdowns (both of which are tops or tied for tops in the league). He’s also added nine catches for 137 yards and two more scores. As for Reid, he can be often a victim of strategic overthinking, but the call here’s an obvious one: keep feeding the kid.
Image via Kansas City Star on YouTube
Many players had standout performance in Week 1 of the NFL season. Things kicked off on Thursday night with the Kansas City Chiefs surprising many with a spectacular game against the Patriots, thanks largely to explosive performances from many players who find themselves on this list. A few teams that disappointed last season had great games on Sunday, and their top performers have made this list. So did quite a few youngsters making their NFL debut. Here’s a look at 15 standout performers from Week 1.
Antonio Brown, Steelers
After an offseason of rumors and drama, Brown opened the season by reminding us that he is simply one of the NFL’s elite wide receivers. On a day when Le’Veon Bell and Martavis Bryant offered very little, Brown simply took over. He didn’t catch any touchdowns, but he didn’t need to. He had 11 receptions for 182 yards (on 11 targets), including a crucial late grab over Jason McCourty that gave the Steelers a much-needed first down to enable them to run out the clock on the Cleveland Browns. There is a reason that he may well be the NFL’s premier wide receiver.
Calais Campbell, Jaguars
There are lots of fun ways to look at Campbell’s performance. There is the obvious one — his 3.5 sacks had shattered the Jaguars’ franchise single-game record by halftime, and he added another half a sack in the second half to make it an even four. Another way? Campbell’s career high in sacks is nine, set in 2013 with the Arizona Cardinals, meaning that after just one week of action with Jacksonville, he is over a third of the way to matching his career high — and halfway to matching the eight he collected last season. That’s dominance. The Jaguars owned Houston up front all game, but Campbell was definitely the star of a unit that now refers to itself as “Sacksonville.”
Derek Carr, Raiders
Steady as it goes, Carr was his usual reliable self as the Raiders beat the Tennessee Titans. While there was nothing mindblowing about his showing, his numbers were quite gaudy: 22-32, 262 yards, two touchdowns, and a 114.3 QBR. This was his first meaningful action since breaking his leg at the tail end of last season. He didn’t look like he’d missed a beat, putting in a strong, confident performance that will have the Raiders thinking he’ll be every bit as good as he was in 2016, when he was a legitimate MVP candidate.
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