Bears won't shut door on signing RB Hunt

[January 15, 2019]  At the Chicago Bears' end-of-the-season news conference Monday, head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace covered a variety of topics, including new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, expected personnel moves this offseason and kicker Cody Parkey's appearance on the "Today" show last week.

However, perhaps no comments raised more eyebrows than those about former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, who was cut and placed on the commissioner's exempt list in late November after a video surfaced showing Hunt shoving and kicking a woman at a Cleveland apartment building in February.

It is not clear when -- or if -- Hunt will be reinstated by the league. However, neither Nagy nor Pace closed the door on potentially bringing in Hunt should the opportunity present itself. Nagy spent two seasons as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator prior to this season, including coaching Hunt for his rookie season in 2017.

"I'm a guy that, I don't care who you are. ... Here is what I'm going to say to this," Nagy said. "Everybody has, when you talk about second chances, well, what's the second chance? Is it, what's your situation? And so, with him, that's not for me to decide. ... I'm a guy that has always been, now I was raised that way to give guys second chances, not third chances, now I've learned that from (Chiefs head coach Andy) Reid, he's done that several times with some people, but I will say that every situation is different. That's his situation, and I wanted to talk to him as on the true, personal side."

As for Pace, the team's general manager since 2015, he would say only that he takes each player and each decision on its own individual merits, and that the two sides are not close to the point of entertaining the possibility of Hunt joining the Bears.

"I think every one of those is unique. Each one is different," Pace said. "The circumstances are always different. We're not even there yet. I mean, I know what he is as a player obviously from watching. Matt knows more about him as a person. We're not even close to that point."

The Bears won the NFC North with a 12-4 record but lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 16-15 in the wild-card round when Parkey's would-be game-winning field goal was deflected at the line of scrimmage, then bounced off an upright and the crossbar before falling short.

Hunt, 23, burst onto the scene as an undrafted rookie in 2017. Hunt rushed for a league-high 1,327 yards as a rookie and had 824 yards through 11 games this season before his release.

--Field Level Media

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