Kansas City Chiefs: DeAndre Washington adds depth to backfield

The Kansas City Chiefs have agreed to terms with running back DeAndre Washington, who adds depth to what could be a crowded backfield in the offense.

All offseason long, there’s been a back and forth about whether the Kansas City Chiefs need to focus on adding running back talent before the 2020 season begins. While Damien Williams had an impressive postseason, the run game wasn’t great throughout the course of the regular season.

There was some thought about potentially addressing the running back in the 2020 NFL Draft and while that could still be an option, adding DeAndre Washington makes that seem like less of an option now.

Washington – who turned 27 years old in February – spent the first four years of his career with division rival Oakland. His best season came as a rookie in 2016 when he rushed for 467 yards off of 87 carries and found the end zone twice. He also had 17 catches for 115 yards that year.

That was the season in which the Raiders went 12-4 and made the playoffs the first time in 15 years. Oakland’s offense was clicking that year and Washington was a key part in their offense, but since then, it hasn’t been the same story  for the Texas Tech product.

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Speaking of Texas Tech, yes, Washington and Patrick Mahomes were teammates in Lubbock. The two played together in both 2014 and 2015. Whether or not that played in Washington’s decision to come to Kansas City, who knows, but it’s a fun fact.

The addition of Washington now has him in a backfield with Damien Williams, Darrel Williams, and Darwin Thompson. The Chiefs will likely add a few more players through the preseason process and I still won’t be shocked if they opt to draft a running back since there are some great prospects in this year’s draft.

Here are the 2019 stats for all of the Chiefs running backs:

• Damien Williams – 111 carries for 498 yards and 5 touchdowns; 30 receptions for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns
• DeAndre Washington – 108 carries for 387 yards and 3 touchdowns; 36 receptions for 292 yards
• Darrel Williams – 41 carries for 141 yards and 3 touchdowns; 15 receptions for 167 yards and 1 touchdown
• Darwin Thompson – 37 carries for 128 yards and 1 touchdown; 9 receptions for 43 yards

As you can see from last year’s numbers, Washington had similar numbers to that of Williams despite Williams being the main option in Kansas City. Washington was mostly a backup to Josh Jacobs and played in 16 games, proving he was durable. That’s something the Chiefs need to see at the running back position is durability.

Whether DeAndre Washington does much for the Chiefs remains to be seen, but the addition is a good one because it’s a position that struggled last year.