Hoping to bounce back from an injury-marred 2024, Isiah Pacheco will see another malady hamper him during a contract year. This time, a knee injury will likely force the Chiefs’ starting running back off the field.
Pacheco suffered an MCL sprain Monday night, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. Labeled “week to week,” Pacheco is likely to miss at least the Chiefs’ Week 9 matchup against the Bills. Kansas City’s bye is in Week 10, so the team could pass on moving the longtime starter to IR.
Veering toward serviceable in Year 4, Pacheco has been part of a committee upon coming back from a broken leg. Kareem Hunt returned during Pacheco’s 2024 injury absence and re-signed this offseason. The aging RB has remained a steady presence in Kansas City’s backfield, with rookie seventh-rounder Brashard Smith seeing more work as this season has progressed as well. Earlier, the Chiefs appeared puzzled by their backfield struggles. The team expected more from Pacheco earlier, though he has delivered a slight production uptick since.
Pacheco, 26, has posted three straight games with 50-plus rushing yards. The Chiefs rank ninth in rushing, and Pacheco (329 yards; 4.2 per carry) finally passed Patrick Mahomes in ground yardage — after the QB’s scampers comprised a big chunk of the team’s total earlier in the season. But this will stall any Pacheco momentum, leaving Hunt (245, four TDs) as the next man up.
The Chiefs had come up at multiple junctures since August as a team looking around for RB help, but recent reporting suggested the three-time reigning AFC champions were more likely to ride it out with their current crew there and find pass-rushing aid at the trade deadline. It is possible this injury prompts the team to reconsider, but if Pacheco does not head to IR, the team could merely wait it out. MCL sprains, though, can linger. It is quite possible IR will be necessary.
A seventh-round success story who had bailed out the Chiefs on their Clyde Edwards-Helaire first-round miss, Pacheco posted 830 rushing yards as a rookie and 935 in 2023. Both seasons brought Super Bowl wins for the Chiefs, who had a low-cost RB complementing a team with big-ticket contracts at several O-line spots. The hard-charging back’s 2024 injury slowed him, and this MCL issue provides another hurdle in his path toward a notable free agent market. Though, he should still have some time to adjust an injury-prone narrative before that point. Edwards-Helaire remains on the Chiefs’ practice squad; he could be an option to move up if an IR move occurs.