NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates 
Kansas City Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco is coming off an impressive rookie season, totaling 830 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 170 attempts.
The 23-year-old running back is also coming off a season where he played through multiple injuries. Pacheco played through a broken hand and torn labrum for a portion of the 2022 season. This offseason, Pacheco underwent procedures for both injuries sustained during last season.
We have yet to see Pacheco participate in offseason programs, but the expectation is that he will be available for training camp.
“He’s making progress,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said. “We’ll just see how he does with it.”
While it is obvious that Pacheco should continue to see plenty of work in 2023, there is one area of his game that should see an uptick. That is pass-catching duties and third-down snaps.
Entering the 2023 NFL draft, the expectation was that the Chiefs would select a running back in the middle rounds of the draft. Especially the fact that Pacheco was a seventh-round pick, and running backs, much less late-round backs, have little security in the NFL nowadays. Not only did the Chiefs not draft a running back, but they also declined Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year option. Kansas City did re-sign Jerick McKinnon, but the lack of additions to the running back room shows how much confidence the Chiefs have in Pacheco.
McKinnon has been the primary third-down running back for the Chiefs, but it’s not like Pacheco is incapable of catching passes out of the backfield. He simply wasn’t given the opportunity to do that role much as a rookie. In 17 regular season games, Pacheco caught 13-of-14 targets and dropped zero passes. In the postseason, Pacheco caught six-of-seven targets, including five catches for 59 yards in the AFC Championship Game.
These numbers show that the second-year running back is more than capable of catching passes out of the backfield. Another key factor in getting more third-down snaps as a running back is…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/chiefs-rb-isiah-pacheco-see-114534989.html?src=rss
Author : Chiefs Wire
Publish date : 2023-06-07 11:45:34
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
