He played college football for the Toledo Rockets and was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft.

Hunt attended South High School in Willoughby, Ohio, where he played for the Rebels football team.

[2] Hunt was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit and committed to the University of Toledo to play college football.

[10][11] He was the MVP of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl victory over Arkansas State after rushing for 271 yards and five touchdowns, which tied an NCAA record with Barry Sanders.

[16] His 4,945 career rushing yards broke Chester Taylor's school record, and was third all time in MAC conference history.

[27] In a Week 7 31–30 road loss to the Oakland Raiders, he had 117 scrimmage yards for his seventh straight game accomplishing the feat.

[29] Heading into Week 17, Hunt was third in the NFL in rushing yards behind Todd Gurley and Le'Veon Bell.

Both Gurley and Bell were inactive for Week 17 after both teams clinched the playoffs and were resting their players, giving Hunt a chance to claim the rushing title.

[36] In the Wild Card Round against the Tennessee Titans, Hunt rushed for 42 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in the narrow 22–21 defeat.

[45] Due to the pending investigation from the NFL into the assault allegations against him, Hunt was placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt list after signing his contract.

[46] On March 15, 2019, the NFL announced that Hunt had been suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2019 season for violating the league's personal conduct policy.

[60] In the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Steelers, Hunt rushed for 48 yards and two touchdowns during the 48–37 win.

[67] In August 2023, press outlets including ESPN reported that Hunt was visiting the New Orleans Saints and was expected to sign a contract.

[69] On September 20, 2023, Hunt signed a one-year contract worth $4 million to return to the Browns following a season-ending injury to Chubb.

[72] He scored one rushing and one receiving touchdown in the Browns' Wild Card Round loss to the Texans.

On September 17, 2024, Hunt was signed to the Chiefs practice squad, and promoted to the active roster a week later.

[76] He scored a rushing touchdown in both the Chiefs' Divisional Round win over the Texans and the AFC Championship over the Bills.

[79] On November 30, 2018, TMZ released a February 2018 video of Kareem Hunt assaulting a woman in a hotel after his friends claimed she called him a racial slur.