Kareem Hunt has been running through challenges all season.
First
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Then there was the challenge of living up to expectations, which soared after Hunt ran roughshod over New England in the season opener and kept climbing after a string of incredible performances.
There was the inevitable challenge of breaking through the rookie wall, too. Hunt struggled along with the rest of the Chiefs during a midseason swoon that saw them lose six out of seven, putting their once-iron grip on the AFC West in jeopardy with a few games left in the regular season.
The next challenge: The Titans’ bruising rush defense, now that Hunt has led the Chiefs to their second straight division title and into a wild-card game on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
”I always believe in myself. I always think I’m going to make something happen,” said Hunt, a third-round pick out of Toledo. ”When Ware went down, I had an opportunity to step in and fill a role.”
He filled that role in record-setting fashion, too.
Hunt successfully persuaded coach Andy Reid to let him play last week against the Broncos, even though the division had been decided and playoff position set, so that he could take aim at the league rushing title.
Hunt only needed one carry to scamper 35 yards for an early touchdown, enough yardage to send him past the Rams’ Todd Gurley with 1,327 yards in just over 15 games.
Hunt is the second straight rookie to win the rushing title, following the Cowboys’ Zeke Elliott
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The only other Chiefs to lead the league in rushing are Priest Holmes and Christian Okoye.
All of that seemed possible when Hunt eclipsed 100 yards rushing in four of his first five games, including a 172-yard performance against the Chargers.
And none of it seemed possible six weeks later, when Hunt was held to 17 yards on 11 carries by Buffalo in another miserable outing.
At that point, the rookie wall seemed very real – even if Reid mostly laughed it off.
”We look at it right around Game 12, you kind of see where they’re at and if they have a bad play you say, `Whoop! There’s the rookie wall,”’ Reid said, dripping with sarcasm.
”Sometimes I think that gets a little overrated, but we haven’t seen that with him. He’s done well and I think we’re probably a little hypersensitive to that when you get around the middle of the season, that 12th game.”
If there was any such wall, the modest-to-a-fault Hunt eventually broke it down. He ran for at least 90 yards and a touchdown in three consecutive games to clinch the division title, putting Hunt in a position to nab the NFL rushing crown in the final game of the regular season.
”Talk about explosive player,” said Titans coach Mike Mularkey, marveling at Hunt’s ability to ”go the distance every time” the young running back touches the ball.
Hunt averaged 4.88 yards per carry this season, second only to the Saints’ Mark Ingram, and his 35 carries of at least 10 yards trailed only Gurley for most in the league.
”I just go out there and play football every game
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Hunt faces a big test this weekend in Tennessee, which rolls into Arrowhead Stadium allowing 88.8 yards rushing per game – the best in the AFC and fourth-best in the league.
They’ve only allowed one 100-yard rusher all season. That was Gurley in Week 16.
”We have our chance in the playoffs,” Hunt said, ”and we just have to keep it rolling.”
NOTES: CB Phillip Gaines (dislocated elbow) went on injured reserve Wednesday and DT Stefan Charles was signed to provide depth. DLs Jarvis Jenkins and Rakeem Nunez-Roches have been hobbled by injuries, so Charles gives the Chiefs insurance if those guys are unavailable. Neither of those defensive linemen practiced Wednesday.
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The journey from the tiny African nation of Togo to the Cologne Crocodiles of the German Football League to the Arizona Cardinals is a very long one.
Now, still learning English, Moubarak Djeri is trying to navigate the tough and often complicated world of the NFL and prove he belongs.
”This experience is really big,” he said after the Cardinals went through a voluntary workout Thursday. ”That was like a dream for me to be here. Now to see how it’s working, how you’ve got to work hard to make the team and be in the season, it’s a really big experience.”
The 6-foot-3, 275-pound defensive end came to Arizona on a tryout basis but showed enough ability to sign a contract and earn a spot as one of the 90 players going through offseason drills.
Djeri speaks four languages – German, French, his mother’s native tongue of Kotokoli and ”just a little English.” He has been in the United States for three months.
”My English was not that good before I came here,” Djeri said. ”I just started learning better the time I was here, like speaking with my other teammates
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One of his best new friends is teammate Praise Martin-Oguike, also a defensive end, who was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States at age 10.
”The language barrier, he might not get the communications sometime,” Martin-Oguike said. ”It’s very difficult.”
There are other challenges. Martin-Oguike helped Djeri set up a bank account with a debit card to facilitate the automatic deposit of his paycheck. He showed him how to use an Uber app on his phone.
And he provides lots of on-the-job encouragement.
”If I have bad practices, I just think about it and get myself really mad,” Djeri said. ”Praise says don’t think too much about it. Keep going, next play. Tomorrow you’re going to get better. It’s something to motivate me.”
Djeri was born in Lome, the capital city of Togo, a small west African nation sandwiched between Ghana and Benin. One of six children, Djeri is part of a very large extended family. He has 27 aunts and uncles.
At age 11, he moved with his family to Germany and in his late teens, he became interested in American-style football, first joining the Cologne junior team and then advancing to the senior team.
Combined, he played just four years of football. But Cologne assistant coach David Odenthal saw something special in Djeri and put together a highlight tape that eventually caught the attention of the Cardinals. He was one of many tryout players
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At 22, he has a long way to go to master the game he loves.
”He’s still learning the game,” coach Steve Wilks said. ”He’s just got to continue to get better, keep putting the time in.”
The time required is so much different than what he had to do in Germany, Djeri said. He said players in Germany thought they knew what it takes to play in the NFL, but it’s much different once it’s experienced up close.
”To have it and to feel it is way different than you think,” he said. ”You’ve got to be every time on point. We’re done now with the practice. We do our lift in 30 minutes. After that, we’ve got meetings again. After that, you go to the hotel and you study and after that you’ve got to sleep to be ready for tomorrow.”
Djeri sees how the odds must be against him.
”I just ask why are they going to get someone from Europe if they’ve got a lot of guys from college,” he said. ”They’ve got a lot of guys with four years’ experience of college football. This is the difficulty to be here.”
But he is giving it his all.
”This is what I want to do every day,” he said. ”After the practice you feel like your body is sore but this is what you want to do. That’s why it don’t matter how you feel, you’ve got to keep at it every day to get better.”
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