The Jets stuck to their word when it came to Kareem Hunt.
The troubled 23-year-old running back signed with the Cleveland Browns on Monday, the team announced. He will join the Browns on a one-year deal and become a restricted free agent when the contract expires, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Hunt was placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List after the Chiefs released him mid-way through last season after a video surfaced of the running back assaulting a woman in a Cleveland-area hotel last February.
He was not arrested nor faced charges for the incident but is currently under investigation by the NFL and will not be eligible to play until the investigation is complete. He could face a suspension up to six to eight weeks.
The Jets have roughly $100 million in cap space and are in the market to improve their backfield but the team reportedly had no interest in adding Hunt due to his troubling transgressions off the field.
GM Mike Maccagnan took a hard stance when it came to players and violence against women two years ago when he removed Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon off the team's draft board after a video of him assaulting a woman surfaced.
Browns GM John Dorsey, who drafted Hunt while GM of the Chiefs in 2017, explained why he was willing to give the running back a second chance in a release issued by the team.
"There were two important factors: one is that Kareem took full responsibility for his egregious actions and showed true remorse and secondly, just as importantly, he is undergoing and is committed to necessary professional treatment and a plan that has been clearly laid out," Dorsey said.
Hunt has apologized to the woman from the incident and issued another apology through the Browns on Monday.
"First off, I would like to once again apologize for my actions last year. What I did was wrong and inexcusable. That is not the man I was raised to be, and I've learned a great deal from that experience and certainly should have been more truthful about it after the fact," he said. "I'm extremely grateful that John Dorsey, Dee and Jimmy Haslam and the Cleveland Browns organization are granting me the opportunity to earn their trust and represent their organization in the best way possible on and off the field," he said.
"I am committed to following the necessary steps to learn and to be a better and healthier person from this situation. I also understand the expectations that the Browns have clearly laid out and that I have to earn my way back to the NFL. I'm a work in progress as a person, but I'm committed to taking advantage of the support systems that I have in place to become the best and healthier version of myself."