Pump the brakes on Kareem Hunt to Buccaneers rumors, for now

Don’t believe the hype that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are interested in Kareem Hunt — at least not right now.

Kareem Hunt’s return to the NFL isn’t going to happen as soon as we may have thought.

Earlier this week it was reported that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were interested in signing Kareem Hunt as new head coach Bruce Arians begins to mold the roster to his liking. There are conflicting reports coming out of Tampa, however, and it appears Hunt coming to the Buccaneers is far from a done deal.

While it might not be wholly untrue that the Bucs are doing background work on bringing in Hunt, a source told FanSided’s Matt Verderame that there’s no actual interest at this time.

The key phrasing being at this time.

The fact of the matter is, the idea of Hunt getting another shot in the NFL is not unfathomable, even if it feels unconscionable. Already the Chicago Bears have broached the subject, thanks to head coach Matt Nagy’s ties to Hunt from his days in Kansas City.

Arians bringing in Hunt adds up, given his history of seeking out troubled players and trying to rehab their character. He drafted both Tyrann Mathieu and Robert Nkemdiche who both had character issues coming out of college. Those were drug-related, however, and far from directly comparable to Hunt. Arians has never been afraid to bring in a guy and try to change him for the better, which is how the Bucs signing Hunt would be sold.

We’ll have to put a pin in the spin machine for now, though, as the Buccaneers signing Hunt doesn’t appear to be in the team’s immediate plans — for now.