Despite scoring like a million points, racking up huge yardage and being the most dynamic offense in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs aren’t great for fantasy outside of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Everyone else’s performance on a weekly basis seems random, almost as if Andy Reid draws a name out of his hat and schemes up plays for that person.
That brings us to Isiah Pacheco who probably won’t be a fantasy football starter next season. The seventh round draft pick was named lead back for Kansas City in week 7 and wasn’t ever challenged for the role. He handled double-digit carries in seven of eleven starts last season while finding the end zone on four occasions. Overall, not a bad showing in his rookie campaign.
Unfortunately, Jerick McKinnon emerged to become the team’s top receiving back. Pacheco only mustered 13 catches on 14 targets which is not good. And before we continue, you can ignore all those soon to be published offseason hype stories about how he worked on his catching skills. The team has said the same thing about Clyde Edwards-Helaire on multiple occasions and how has that gone?
Related: Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a fantasy football nuisance
Of course, this isn’t the only reason Isiah Pacheco won’t be a fantasy football starter next season. His other issue is that he lacks big play ability. Don’t get me wrong, the Rutgers product has shown the capability to get yards. He certainly seems like a handful to tackle.
But his longest rush in 2022 was 31 yards. Everyone talks about his 4.37-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL Combine, but he isn’t elusive in the slightest. We see Pacheco’s burst in brief spurts but too often he is running right into a linebacker or gets tripped up by a safety.
This is evident when you compare Pacheco to Kenneth Walker III who ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL Combine. The Seahawks running back used his elusiveness to break off countless chunk gains last season. It’s unlikely the Chiefs rusher is going to suddenly learn how to evade tacklers.
Looking ahead to 2023, the team seems prepared to run things back with just he, McKinnon and Edwards-Helaire. But that doesn’t seem like a particularly valuable role. And good luck figuring out who gets the most usage in any given week.
A weekly dart throw? Perhaps. But Isiah Pacheco is probably not a fantasy football starter next season unless you completely bungle your draft.
Read More: Where should you take Kenneth Walker III in 2023 fantasy football drafts?
