In his second season, Kansas City’s starting running back revealed his true identity.
On Monday, Pro Football Focus writer Thomas Valentine assembled a ranking of the NFL’s top running backs for 2024. Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers, Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens and Nick Chubb of the Cleveland Browns led the pack — and the Kansas City Chiefs’ starter Isiah Pacheco landed right in the middle of the pack.
15. Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs
Pacheco runs like he’s mad at the ground for its existence. The Chiefs’ seventh-round pick from 2023 rushed for 935 yards and seven touchdowns en route to helping the team to back-to-back Super Bowl wins.
Averaging 4.6 yards per carry, Pacheco earned an 82.3 grade in 2023 and tallied 11 runs of 15-plus yards. He’ll continue to be a real weapon for the Chiefs in their pursuit of immortality.
It’s hard being a running back in Kansas City.
You’re playing in front of fans who largely cut their teeth watching players like Christian Okoye, Priest Holmes and Jamaal Charles slice through the line — even though their offensive lines often deserved a large portion of the credit. However it happened, though, their success has set a high bar — and if expectations aren’t met, Chiefs fans can be brutal with their disdain.
Running backs also face an uphill battle playing under head coach Andy Reid, who usually showcases their talent only when necessary.
So as a first-round pick in 2020, it would have been almost impossible for Clyde Edwards-Helaire to meet the expectations of Kansas City fans — and missing significant time with injuries during his first three seasons didn’t help.
Pacheco faced an entirely different situation. Acquired in 2022’s seventh round, fans’ expectations were limited. So Pacheco had to achieve relatively little to be perceived as a significantly better back than his predecessor.
And make no mistake: in Pacheco’s rookie season, he was significantly better than Edwards-Helaire. But after substantial drop-offs in his 2023 production (his success rate dropped from 57.1 to 50.7, while his yards per attempt fell from 4.9 to 4.6), he’s shown us his true identity: he’s an average NFL back.
This ranking confirms what we should already know: Pacheco is a seventh-round steal who can do the dirty work Kansas City needs done, rather than be a playmaker like Kareem Hunt. It was all right to want the team to replace Hunt’s spectacular 2017-2018 production (who wouldn’t want that?) but since then, the Chiefs have proven that’s not what they needed.
Valentine didn’t even mention the most intriguing part of Pachceo’s 2023 performance: his PFF grade rose from 74.6 to 82.3 primarily from substantial improvements in ball security and pass blocking — exactly where Kansas City needed an upgrade.
