Will Isiah Pacheco and Charles Omenihu play for Chiefs against Las Vegas Raiders?
Isiah Pacheco is back ... playing DJ in the Chiefs locker room two days before the next game.
Oh, and for the first time since suffering an ankle injury in a Week 2 game, Pacheco is set to rejoin his teammates on the field.
Andy Reid said Wednesday that Pacheco, the team’s leading rusher the previous two seasons, and defensive end Charles Omenihu are expected to play against the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday.
Omenihu has been out since suffering a torn ACL in last season’s AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens.
“As long as they’re OK, we’ll check on it today,” Reid said on Wednesday. “If they’re good after today, we’ll play them.”
It’s been a while.
Pacheco had picked up 135 rushing yards in the first two games when he suffered the injury in the fourth quarter in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Chiefs used Samaje Perine and Carson Steele as the running backs in the third game against the Atlanta Falcons, and signed Kareem Hunt, who played with the Chiefs in 2017 and 2018.
Hunt has been the primary back since then, collecting 577 yards and five rushing touchdowns.
The Chiefs haven’t said how carries will be distributed, but both will see action and Pacheco will have fresh legs.
“I think it’s good that we have a good room of running backs and we can kind of not make (Pacheco) go out there and take 30 carries or whatever it is,” Patrick Mahomes said. “We can just kind of let him be who he is and make those big plays happen and then bring him along as the season goes.”
Omenihu might be considered a bigger need. Last season was his first with the Chiefs, and the sixth-year pro recorded seven sacks in 11 games. He added another in the playoffs, a strip sack of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson one snap before he suffered the injury.
The Chiefs pass rush has lacked most of the season. They’ve come up with 21 sacks (tied for 28th) and blitz at the second-highest rate in the NFL.