Arguably, the room that underwent the most offseason change for the Kansas City Chiefs was the running back unit. Gone are the days of Isiah Pacheco running into the offensive line behind the line of scrimmage or Kareem Hunt's way-past-prime self lacking any semblance of explosiveness.
General manager Brett Veach did wonders bringing in Kenneth Walker on a three-year, $43 million deal that now looks like quite the bargain, considering guys who are admittedly a tier better than Walker in Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs, but signing deals for $20-plus million per year.
Emari Demercado signed a one-year deal as a proven backup in this league, and Emmett Johnson, a fifth-round pick in this year's NFL Draft, has been making plays daily in training camp. However, the lone guy who remains on this team who was on the 53-man roster last season is second-year man Brashard Smith.
After a quiet rookie season where he saw most of his opportunities late in the year or on special teams, Smith has quietly been stacking good days on top of each other in camp. And Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and special teams coordinator Dave Toub have taken notice.
Brashard Smith return pic.twitter.com/F2nCO5N46u
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Could Brashard Smith be the Chiefs new-era Jerick McKinnon?
When asked who has stood out to Toub so far in a returning aspect on special teams, he mentioned Smith's ascension from year one to year two. "I think Brashard has taken a really nice step as far as a punt returner; he's catching the ball a lot cleaner."
While Smith was healthy all 17 games, his role was light, which is not at all uncommon for seventh-round selections. In six punt returns, Smith was able to burst one up the seams for a field-flipping 44-yard return. However, in the other five, he managed just 24 yards. He also ran back 18 kick returns for 481 yards and a long of 37.
If I were to put money on it, I would say Smith does make the final roster as this team's fourth running back and secondary returner behind Nikko Remigio. However, with his pass-catching skills as a former wide receiver in college at SMU, Smith might be able to turn himself into a secret weapon of sorts for Patrick Mahomes. Reid spoke to that in yesterday's press conference.
"[Pass] protection for the young guys is a big thing, so we've been putting him in positions there where he's gotta know the rules, you've gotta be able to step up physically, and he's done a nice job with that," Reid said of the lighter 200 lb Smith. "He's gotten more reps; we know he can run the ball, we know he can catch the ball, but that other part is the big part, and the more reps he gets, the better he's got. "He looks a little bit bigger; he was skinny last year, but looks like he's put some good weight on, seems to be in good shape. He's out there running around and been able to handle it."
That's pretty high praise from a coach like Andy Reid, who does not like to give much away. Smith played on just 17% of the offensive snap counts, but the majority of his work came in the two games versus the Las Vegas Raiders.
He touted the ball 26 times for 95 yards as well as 25 catches on the season for one touchdown. Smith has the speed, running a dashing 4.39-second 40-yard-dash at the NFL Combine, and if he did, in fact, as Reid says, put on some muscle over the offseason, there's a chance that the Chiefs opt to use Smith in a multitude of roles, similar to Jerick McKinnon of years past.
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