When people say that age is just a number, they are usually referring to people having an age gap while dating. They are usually not referring to giving someone a second chance after an incident of violence just because of how young they are.

Though the incident occured back in February of 2018, a video published by TMZ didn’t surface until November 2018. The video in question showed NFL running back Kareem Hunt physically assaulting a woman after appearing to be goaded into it by the same woman.

In the video, it is unclear what the woman says to him. Hunt appears to use as much force on the woman as he would another football player. Even after being held back by his companions, Hunt shoves the woman on the ground and violently kicks her.

Though Hunt has since apologized for his actions, he has still basically faced no consequences. After the incident surfaced, Hunt was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list and released from the Kansas City Chiefs.

And yet, just four months after being cut, Hunt has now been signed by the Cleveland Browns; an ironic coincidence considering the team is based in the same city that the incident took place in.

In other circumstances, anyone who was caught on tape assaulting another person would be arrested if charges were brought against them.

Being 23 is not an excuse for acting this way. I know plenty of people this age and even younger who know that kicking someone when they’re down is inexcusable. Even if the woman did provoke him, there is no reason why he couldn’t have walked away.

Though the unidentified woman has declined to press charges, thus resulting in Hunt not being arrested, this does not mean that no consequences should implemented. .

Some might say that being taken off his original team was enough punishment, and it’s ok for him to get signed to another team a year after the actual incident. He’s obviously learned his lesson, right?

Not entirely.

Yes, it must be unfortunate to be kicked off a contending team as a focal offensive piece. However, it is much more unfortunate to watch your assaulter suffer no long-term consequences.

While this should be shocking, somewhere along the lines we stopped making violence among athletes a big deal. People that the majority of Americans look up to, should be held to a higher standard, but they are unfortunately not.

Domestic violence has become scarily common among athletes, yet we have come to accept it as something that comes along with playing violent sports. This is not something that we should be able to brush off.

If the Chiefs found enough cause to remove Hunt from their team, then it should have stayed like that. Another team should not have been able to sign him.

We can do better than this. If a person needs to face consequences, then have them actually face them, and don’t revoke them only a year later.

Yes, he is young and his career just started, but violence is one of the few things that should not be given a second chance. If the NFL truly holds its’ players to a higher standard when it comes to things like this, they obviously have a broad definition of what a “higher standard” actually is.