Where does a healthy Isiah Pacheco fit into the Kansas City Chiefs’ backfield?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Isiah Pacheco targets 1,000 rushing yards in final year of rookie contract.
- Chiefs added Elijah Mitchell, Brashard Smith to boost depth at running back.
- Post-injury, Pacheco aims to regain lead role in a crowded backfield rotation.
It’s easy to forget that running back Isiah Pacheco was off to a fast start in 2024 before a fractured fibula interrupted his season — and changed the Chiefs’ running backs room.
The injury occurred with two minutes remaining in a Week 2 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. On a 1-yard gain, Pacheco was bent backward over his right leg. Somehow, he was able to jog off the field.
But he would not return to action until Week 12.
Pacheco had been a workhorse in that game against the Bengals, rushing for 90 yards on 19 carries. Although the season was still young at the time, he was on pace to comfortably surpass his preseason goal of 1,000 rushing yards.
As he enters his fourth NFL season, Pacheco has not moved that goalpost.
“Same thing,” Pacheco said. “A thousand yards. Let’s go get it.”
At full strength — and in the final year of his rookie contract — Pacheco is motivated to produce a big season. A strong campaign could earn him a lucrative next contract.
“Around this time last year I was feeling good, feeling good about myself,” he said. “Then I got injured. This is my time to get in the grind.”
Until the injury, Pacheco had delivered more production than would be expected from a seventh-round pick. Taken No. 251 overall out of Rutgers in the 2022 NFL Draft, he became a starter by the seventh game and didn’t surrender the role for two seasons.
Pacheco topped the Chiefs in rushing in 2022 (830 yards) and 2023 (935), and his draft class helped KC win nine straight playoff games before falling in last season’s Super Bowl.
The Chiefs changed their approach at running back after Pacheco’s injury. In their first game without him, they started undrafted rookie Carson Steele, who pounded out 72 yards against the Atlanta Falcons. Veteran Samaje Perine was his primary backup.
A few days later, the Chiefs signed their former starting running back, Kareem Hunt, and he became their workhorse. Hunt wound up leading the Chiefs with 728 yards and seven rushing touchdowns in 2024.
Kansas City finished 22nd in the league in rushing. So, even knowing Pacheco would return, they sought to bolster the position this offseason. They signed veteran Elijah Mitchell, who had the best of his three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers as a rookie in 2021, when he rushed for 963 yards and five touchdowns.
Also, the Chiefs drafted — like Pacheco, in the seventh round — Brashard Smith, who played wide receiver in his three years at Miami but was a running back who gained 1,332 yards for SMU in 2024.
Hunt is back on a one-year deal, and Steele remains in the fold, listed as a fullback. Steele handled some kick-return duties last season, and that could be Smith’s role this season. In his final year at Miami, he led the nation in kick returns and return yards.
Pacheco can relate. As a rookie, he was the Chiefs’ primary kick-return specialist.
“(He’s) a seventh-round pick, and I had the similar role when I came in here,” Pacheco said. “It’s finding ways to get better, whether that’s special teams or however it may be.”
Will the Chiefs keep all five backs, or could a surprise cut come from this group as the team works its way to an opening day roster of 53 players?
That will largely depend on what happens at other positions. But the Chiefs are aiming to improve their running game, and a healthy Pacheco is a good start.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 2:06 PM.