When the Chiefs lost Spencer Ware to IR in the preseason, fantasy football prognosticators were split on Kareem Hunt. Nobody doubted he could be good, his preseason made that clear. The only question was how good could he be? Personally, I started snatching him up in the late third round wherever I could after the Ware injury. Others didn’t want to bank on the rookie running back that high and had him pegged in the fourth or fifth round. For the first part of the season, I looked like a genius. Recently, however, those who doubted his ability to produce this season looked to be the smart ones. What about this week, should you fire up Kareem Hunt everywhere against the Buffalo Bills?
First, there are serious question marks surrounding Kareem Hunt’s recent production. After ripping off 97 carries in his first five games at 6.28 yards per carry, Andy Reid suddenly decided he was having too much of a good thing. Hunt’s average of 155 yards in his five games is now a long-distant memory, and his 19.4 carries per game dropped to 15.1 over the last five weeks. Those extra four carries can make a huge difference, especially in an offense that suddenly struggled like the Chiefs have. The big issue, however, is the touchdowns. After scoring six times in his first three games, he hasn’t scored since September. Over the last four weeks, he’s the RB40 on a fantasy points per game basis, behind such luminaries as Jamaal Williams, Kenyan Drake and Rob Kelley. Things have been bad for Kareem Hunt owners recently, as he isn’t even a top-five rookie running back over the last month, let alone a startable fantasy football running back commodity. Maybe Andy Reid mixed him and Akeem Hunt up?
This week, however, we get a primo matchup for Kareem Hunt owners. They take on the dumpster fire of all dumpster fires, as they get the Buffalo Bills. The Bills had a somewhat decent run defense until they decided to trade Marcell Dareus and all hell broke loose for the opposing running backs. In the three games without Dareus, they’ve allowed at least 70 yards rushing or a rushing TD to seven different running backs, including both Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler last week, and Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara the week before.
Things haven’t been great for Kareem Hunt owners over the last month, as his usage and fantasy football productivity have cratered over the last four weeks. However, he gets the perfect bounce-back opponent this week with the Buffalo Bills. They’ve been physically unable to stop running backs this week, which means you can get Hunt in there this week. However, and this is very important, make sure you have your opponent on speed dial so you can call him up immediately to laugh in his face after Hunt gets his second touchdown and/or 150th yard.
Oh and I know that’s Akeem Hunt in the featured image, if you came here to well actually me, that’s the joke.
