The Kansas City Chiefs entered the bye week coming off a loss to their conference rival, the Buffalo Bills, in Week 9. While there were plenty of things that could be taken from Kansas City's loss in upstate New York that would be cause for concern, their complete lack of a rushing attack with Isiah Pacheco sidelined can be pinpointed as a key reason for the Chiefs' 28-21 loss.
Beyond Kareem Hunt, who led the charge with 11 carries for 49 yards and one TD, Kansas City received essentially nothing from the rest of their running backs in uniform and available to play. Between rookie Brashard Smith and veteran Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who was only elevated to the active roster the day before their loss to Buffalo, the Chiefs racked up a total of 12 yards on five carries.
Needless to say, that simply isn't good enough. Now, with the bye upon us, Andy Reid and the coaching staff need to get back to the drawing board as their rookie running back is now looking like much less of a potential contributor than fans had hoped.
Brashard Smith Leaving Chiefs Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The former SMU standout was a converted wide receiver who only saw one collegiate season of action in the backfield. Now, he is looking to continue picking up the position at the highest level of them all. There was always going to be a learning curve here for Smith in Kansas City.
What should be concerning, though, is the fact that his opportunities appear to be decreasing rather than increasing as we enter the second half of the 2025 campaign. If Reid and the coaching staff didn't trust Smith enough to give him more of a role in a regular-season game against a key opponent, are fans expected to believe that things will change once the playoffs roll around and the stakes are even higher?
This doesn't appear to be a one-off situation either. Smith's usage is noticeably going down. Since the Chiefs' blowout victory against the Las Vegas Raiders, where the rookie had 19 total touches (14 rushes and five receptions), he has just six total carries and one target in the passing game, which was not completed, over Kansas City's past two games.
Pacheco should return to the lineup sooner rather than later, ideally as soon as Week 11, but injuries can happen at any time in the game of football. If he, or Hunt, were to go down again before the end of the 2025 campaign, then the Chiefs could be forced to give meaningful touches to a player who hasn't been part of the game plan for weeks. This is why sitting out the trade deadline rather than pursuing a running back was a risky gamble for Kansas City.
Ideally, it doesn't come to that. However, if something were to happen and Smith needed to become a larger piece of the puzzle, fans would look back at this stretch and wonder why the rookie was not given more of an opportunity to get meaningful reps in live game situations.