How former players have returned to spark the Chiefs’ perfect start

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t bill their recent game against the New Orleans Saints as Turn-Back-the-Clock Night, but it had that look.

It looked like 2018 when running back Kareem Hunt scored a touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards for the Chiefs for the first time in six years. It looked like 2022 when JuJu Smith-Schuster led the team’s wide receivers with seven catches and 130 yards. It looked like 2019 when Mecole Hardman caught four passes.

But it’s 2024 and the 7-0 Chiefs, seeking an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl championship, are the NFL’s last remaining unbeaten team heading into Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+) at Arrowhead Stadium. They are getting significant contributions from former stars who left for other teams only to return as if time stood still.

“Coach [Andy] Reid has a knack for putting in plays that suit the player,” Hardman said. “He gave me some quick screens to get the ball in my hands to make something happen. He got the ball to JuJu across the middle, which he’s good at.

“We’ve been with him before so he knows what we can do. No matter if it’s one, two or three plays, he’s thinking about how he can get everybody involved.”

Hunt, despite not playing until Week 4, leads the Chiefs in rushing with 308 yards. Smith-Schuster, despite not signing until training camp was over, had more receiving yards against the Saints than any Chiefs player in any one game this season. Hardman was the Chiefs’ biggest threat in their Week 7 win over the San Francisco 49ers, accumulating 55 yards rushing and receiving, scoring a touchdown and returning a punt for 55 yards.

Another Chief, defensive tackle Mike Pennel, who played on their Super Bowl LIV-winning team in 2019, left in 2021 for two seasons and then returned in time to help the Chiefs win Super Bowl LVIII last season.

“It’s the atmosphere,” Pennel said of why he and others look to return to the Chiefs after leaving. “Coach Reid, he demands success out of everyone. There’s no vet days [off from practice] here, so that’s why you see older players here playing at a high level because there are no shortcuts.

“All of that plays into coming back to Kansas City.”

FOR THE CHIEFS’ part, it’s no coincidence they’ve brought back so many former players. A fifth former Chief, tight end Jody Fortson, helped Kansas City win Super Bowl LVII in 2022 before leaving for the Miami Dolphins and returning this season. He is on injured reserve after hurting his right knee in last week’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Hunt, Smith-Schuster and Fortson returned this year. None went to training camp with the Chiefs. Hardman and Pennel came back last season with neither participating in camp and Hardman wound up catching the winning touchdown in overtime of last year’s Super Bowl win. In all cases, the Chiefs were looking for players who they could plug in and play in a quick time frame.

“We know how to use Mecole and I think Mecole knows that we know how to use Mecole in his best way,” Reid said. “He’s got an idea of how things work, he’s smart, he knows the routes and the ins and outs of the routes and he’s a good communicator so he’s able to talk to the guys and then he’s working his tail off. I give him credit for how he’s approaching [everything].

“They [all] kind of know how we operate. They know the offense. They’re comfortable with it. Kareem obviously had been away for a while, but he was able to pick everything up quickly and he and Pat [Mahomes] are very good friends. They’ve stayed in touch throughout the years here, so he was welcome back in.”

Hardman said when he was acquired last year in a trade from the New York Jets, it felt like he was coming home. Reid never had to explain expectations, the pace at which the Chiefs practiced, the location of the cafeteria at the practice facility or anything else.

The Chiefs at the same time knew how to best utilize Hardman with screen passes, jet sweeps and other open-field plays designed to help make use of his speed.

“I knew exactly what they wanted from me, what was going on,” Hardman said. “As soon as I got here I was plugged in. They just said, ‘Let’s go to practice.’ I got here Thursday or Friday and I was playing Sunday. It was all second nature.”

Hardman was a free agent at the end of last season but never gave serious consideration to playing elsewhere before re-signing a one-year deal worth about $1.1 million.

“I had a few options but I guess this one made more sense,” Hardman said. “Just more comfortable being here my whole career. I know the system, I know the coaches and I’m very, very familiar with the scheme of everything going on. I think Coach Reid has a good way of putting me on the field and using me in certain situations.”

Hunt’s history with the Chiefs is more complicated. He led the NFL in rushing as a rookie in 2017 and was having another big season in 2018 but was released in November of that year after a video surfaced showing Hunt shoving and kicking a woman outside of his Cleveland residence. No charges were filed against Hunt, but he was placed on the commissioner exempt list and suspended by the NFL for the first eight games of the 2019 season.

He signed with the Cleveland Browns after his return, playing six seasons there. But he said he never stopped wishing he could come back to the Chiefs, which happened in September after they lost their starting running back, Isiah Pacheco.

The Chiefs at the time also had a former starting running back, Clyde Edwards-Helaire on the non-football injury list. Edwards-Helaire has since returned to the active roster.

The Chiefs felt comfortable bringing Hunt back, saying he had matured and deserved a second chance.

“I was thrilled,” Hunt said of the phone call he received from Reid telling him the Chiefs wanted him back. “Words can’t even describe how happy I was. They’ve got the same philosophy and everything like that. I know what to expect and they know what to expect out of me.

“I feel like I never really left. It feels amazing to be a part of this again.”

Before signing Hunt, the Chiefs were looking at having to use several players to try to replace Pacheco. One of their other backs, Samaje Perine, was signed mainly to play on third downs. The other, Carson Steele, is an undrafted rookie who lost a couple of fumbles and didn’t look ready for a full role.

Hunt gave the Chiefs an immediate lift, much as he did when he arrived as a third-round draft pick in 2017.

“I was here with him in ’17 and he reminds me a lot of that same player,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. “We love where he’s at. He’s physical and usually when we ask him to get 3 [yards], he gets us 4. When we ask him to get 4, he gets 5.”

SMITH-SCHUSTER PLAYED one season for the Chiefs, in 2022, but was their leading wide receiver. He was a free agent after the season and the Chiefs wanted him back, but he signed instead with the New England Patriots.

He missed out on winning a second Super Bowl championship last year but said he has no regrets over leaving. He did show how he felt about the Chiefs as a fit for him by rejoining them after his training camp release from the Patriots.

“Just very familiar with the offense,” Smith-Schuster said. “Very familiar with Andy Reid, Pat and the guys. Just being in this facility kind of makes your job a lot easier than going to somewhere new where you’ve kind of got to learn everything pretty quickly. I think the hardest part for an offensive player is going into a new system and having to study a whole new playbook.

“[Reid] just knows how to put guys in position. He knows how to basically use their strength on the field and he [utilizes] that and I think that’s something that being here I was able to do that.”

Smith-Schuster rejoined the Chiefs before they lost Rashee Rice for the season with a right knee injury. But even then, the Chiefs were looking for a receiver who could complement tight end Travis Kelce in the middle of the field.

General manager Brett Veach didn’t have to wonder how Smith-Schuster would fit. He had already seen it.

“Some of the intermediate stuff that he does well with Travis, we thought JuJu did better than other players,” Veach said. “He’s a bigger player than some smaller guys. Then with some of the intermediate route running, I think he had maybe a little bit better feel.

“JuJu’s experience in that offense and that feel for that position gives us the ability to kind of sub these guys out, give them blows and hopefully still match that kind of production.”

Hunt, Hardman and Smith-Schuster were top players for the Chiefs at different times. Hunt was initially with the Chiefs before Hardman or Smith-Schuster arrived.

Hardman joined in 2019, when he had career highs for touchdowns (seven) and yards per catch (20.7). He was injured during much of the 2022 season, when Smith-Schuster played.

Even though they never starred at the same time, it doesn’t necessarily feel that way to them. When it was mentioned to Smith-Schuster after the Saints game that former stars like himself, Hunt and Hardman had played a big role, he nodded and smiled.

“It’s pretty cool getting the guys back,” he said. “It’s like the band is back together.”