The Kansas City Chiefs received some uninspiring news on the injury front regarding veteran running back Isiah Pacheco, following their 28-7 win over the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football.
On Tuesday afternoon, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported that Pacheco has sustained an MCL sprain and is considered week-to-week. The veteran playmaker exited Monday’s game in the fourth quarter after getting awkwardly tackled.
Before exiting last night’s primetime contest against Washington, Pacheco had 58 rushing yards on 12 carries. With Pacheco out at least for this week’s game against the Buffalo Bills, it should put rookie Brashard Smith in line to get more work as a runner, along with Kareem Hunt.
Chiefs Must Figure Out Brashard Smith's Role or Pivot Elsewhere with Pacheco Sidelined
The rookie RB surprisingly didn’t get a lot of work vs. Washington, as he had eight yards on three carries (nine offensive snaps). In the previous week’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Smith had his “breakout” game as he played a season-high 28 offensive snaps.
The former SMU star took advantage of the extended reps as he racked up 39 yards on 14 carries, while producing five receptions (five targets) for 42 yards. If you’re a Chiefs fan, you were excited to see Smith get utilized both on the ground and in the passing game, and were hoping to see more of the same in the season's second half.
It'll be interesting to see how Kansas City's backfield will be handled in the coming weeks. The Chiefs have a bye in Week 10, which is during the Nov. 4 deadline, so they could use this game against the Buffalo Bills to see what Smith offers as a running back.
Coming out of college, it was known that Smith was still raw as an RB after playing the position for one year. But knowing the type of speed and acceleration he possesses, it's tantalizing to get that on the field.
Another route K.C. could take is using Hunt as the RB1, while having Smith as the change-of-pace option. Hunt showed us last year that he could carry a sizable workload when he took over for Pacheco, averaging 19.4 attempts per game (eight games). This season, he’s only carried the ball at least 10 times twice.
At the same time, Hunt is also averaging 4.0 yards per carry. Buffalo’s interior defensive line is banged up, as they lost Ed Oliver to injury, making this a good spot for Smith (150.3 rushing yards per game allowed – 31st in the NFL).
If the Chiefs don’t trust Smith as a runner, they could give Pacheco’s carries to Elijah Mitchell, who has been a healthy scratch this entire season. Mitchell is a bigger back than Smith, but he’s not a huge factor in the passing game. That said, this would be a good opportunity for the ex-Louisiana Ragin' Cajun to show the Chiefs that they shouldn’t have let him sit this season.
And if that’s the route they go towards, the Chiefs should likely consider trading for a running back on the cheap because a week-to-week timeline doesn’t give much certainty for a guy like Pacheco, who has been banged up. Someone like the Cleveland Browns' Jerome Ford or the Miami Dolphins' Jaylen Wright could be an option.
Nonetheless, Chiefs fans should hope that Kansas City trusts Smith and unleashes him against a poor Bills’ defense. A good performance by Smith could give Kansas City faith and hope in the second half of the season that it can depend on him, not only in passing situations, but to run the rock.