When ex-NFLer Ray Rice read about the controversy surrounding now-former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, he expressed his desire to “help” Hunt because “he has a long life to live.”
As previously reported, TMZ unveiled a video last week showing Hunt assaulting a female by shoving and kicking her. He had previously denying the assault, which is said to have occurred in February 2018, to his team. The fallout resulted in him being curbed by the Kansas City Chiefs.
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You recall that Rice was also involved in a domestic violence incident in 2015 where he was seen punching his current wife in an Atlantic City elevator. After the footage surfaced, Rice was released by the Ravens and has not played pro football since. He doesn’t want Hunt to experience the same fate and feels he’s in the best position to teach him how to learn from this situation.
“You look back at it and obviously you see some similarities between what happened in my situation,” Rice told NFL.com. “I’m never going to call myself an expert. I’ve [publicly] discussed the remorse I have for survivors of domestic violence, but knowing what I know now the top priority is learning that it comes down to those split-second decisions, which come at the most hostile times. And that’s where this could be a teaching tool.”
Rice says he’s willing to speak with Hunt if Hunt would open up and discuss the issues that led to him laying hands on a woman.
“Peer-to-peer, I would definitely try to help him figure out, ‘How can we start dealing with the underlying problems in your life?'” Rice said. “Because he has a long life to live, this will be a defining moment, but it shouldn’t be the moment that defines you. For me, I just see you have a long life to live and that doesn’t mean just playing football – you need to just live one day at a time.”
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From his experience, Rice feels confident that Hunt can take control of this tragic situation, learn from it and bounce back in a way that his future won’t be so grim.
“I have seen great examples of guys who got this right,” Rice explained. “There are great examples out there on how to do it. It’s not going to apply to everybody, but I know I am playing a role and want to continue in a way where I can best help the most people.”
Grio fam, do you think Ray Rice is the right person to help Kareem Hunt?