Cleveland Browns plan to tender Kareem Hunt, what will his role be?

Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry spoke with media at the NFL Combine and stated that the Browns do have plans to tender running back Kareem Hunt.

“We think Kareem’s a good football player,” new Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry said at the combine on Tuesday. “We like having good football players on our roster.” Berry has confirmed the Browns will tender Kareem Hunt to keep him in the running backs room for the 2020 season.

Hunt is a former third-round pick, so the Browns can place a third-, second-, or first-round tender on him. If a team wants to make an offer to Hunt, they will have to give up the corresponding draft pick to the tender the Browns placed. Now that it is confirmed the Browns intend to keep him, what will Hunt’s role be in Kevin Stefanski’s offense?

Hunt led the NFL in rushing as a rookie; however, he contributed to the Browns passing attack in a major way in 2019. He caught 37 balls for 285 yards, compared to 179 rushing yards. He was used a lot in passing situations because of the season Nick Chubb was having rushing the ball.

In 2019, Stefanski was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings had a very solid rushing attack between Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison. Hunt compares more to Mattison, who had 100 carries for 462 yards (4.6 YPC) in 2019.

Mattison, however, was not used much in the passing game, totaling just 10 receptions for 82 yards. Although Hunt will be more of a focus in the passing game than Mattison, this is still a good basis for Hunt’s usage in 2020.

Expect Hunt to be used similarly to Mattison in the run game, but also group that with how he was used in the passing game in 2019. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was asked how he would use Chubb and Hunt, and he was adamant that both create mismatch problems for defenses if you were to motion them out wide. This tells us to expect a lot of Hunt and Chubb in the backfield, then motioning one to the outside to create mismatch problems.

Stefanski had this same opinion regarding having two very talented running backs: “I think the more the merrier. Give us as many good players as you can when you’re talking about offense.”

Browns fans should expect to see Hunt used in many different ways when the 2020 season rolls around. He has even shown he can be a lead blocker for Chubb. The Browns have all offseason to get creative regarding Hunt’s role, assuming he is back with the team.