Chiefs’ Andy Reid expects better 2025 season for Isiah Pacheco. Here’s why
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid is expecting more from running back Isiah Pacheco during the 2025 season.
The biggest reason for that? Health.
Reid, while speaking during the NFL Annual Meeting at The Breakers Palm Beach, said Pacheco shouldn’t be judged based on his 2024 numbers after returning from a fractured fibula he suffered in Week 2.
“I think he’ll be even better this year,” Reid said Monday morning. “He was forcing that thing coming back.”
Pacheco, a 2022 seventh-round pick of the Chiefs, returned in Week 13 after surgery but didn’t post the same production as earlier seasons; in seven combined regular-season games, his 3.7 yards-per-carry average was nearly a full yard lower than his previous year (4.6).
“Most guys probably wouldn’t have come back (from his injury), but if you know him for about a minute, you’ll know that he wasn’t going to be held back,” Reid said. “So I think you’ll get even a better player this year.”
Pacheco’s advanced numbers also appeared to be affected by his ankle.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats before Super Bowl LIX, Pacheco recorded an average speed of 8.83 mph at the line of scrimmage last season — the seventh-slowest mark among 70 running backs with at least 50 carries.
“He was physically OK to go. But when you’re looking at it, it’s minute stuff,” Reid said, talking about rewatching the film. “Just maybe that ability to cut as quick as he did before. Now it’s still quick, but you’re talking inches here. Was it what he could do before? Well, it wasn’t.”
Pacheco, who turned 26 this month, also battled a rib injury late in the season.
The Chiefs have added some depth at running back over the last month. They re-signed Kareem Hunt — the team’s leading rusher a season ago — and agreed to terms with former San Francisco 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell on the opening day of free agency.
“He’s got a little quickness and speed,” Reid said of Mitchell. “He also has the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and or flex him out to catch the ball. When he was healthy, he did a great job (for the 49ers).”
Still, Pacheco returns as the team’s most proven back in KC after exceeding 800 rushing yards in each of his first two seasons.
And now, Reid believes, the running back will be able to show more than he did a few months ago.
“He was getting better every week,” Reid said, “and I think you’ll just see him back to what he was before.”
