Kareem Hunt start or sit: Week 1 fantasy football advice

Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season is finally here and opening weekend will continue on Friday with the Los Angeles Chargers meeting the Kansas City Chiefs in Brazil at 8 p.m. ET on YouTube.

The Chiefs have had an entire offseason to stew on their blowout loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX this past February and will begin a long march towards reclaiming their throne atop the NFL. There are some questions about the firepower Patrick Mahomes will have at his disposal this year and that includes veteran running back Kareem Hunt. According to FantasyPros, he enters the season as with an ADP (average draft position) of 55 in PPR formats and 65 in standard formats.

Below, we’ll go over Hunt’s outlook in fantasy football for Week 1.

Hunt returned to the Chiefs last September to fill in for an injured Isiah Pacheco and served as the team’s primary ball carrier for the rest of the campaign. He ended up producing 728 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in 13 games, ultimately finishing as a top-35 fantasy running back in both standard and PPR leagues. His 3.6 yards per carry weren’t ideal, but the sheer volume of touches he got allowed him to be a solid fantasy contributor throughout the year.

Pacheco is back and fully healthy entering the 2025 season. That means the 30-year-old Hunt, who dealt with a quad injury in the preseason, will be relegated to a backup role. How many touches he gets remains to be seen.

Sit. Barring Pacheco going down with another injury, Hunt’s best days as a viable fantasy asset are behind him. He should get a smattering of touches in Friday’s opener against the Chargers, but it won’t be enough to warrant a spot in your starting lineup. He’s just an insurance/handcuff piece that should only be broken out in case of emergency.