Andy Reid just made the Kareem Hunt signing sound much more life-saving for Chiefs

It was almost a no-brainer for the Kansas City Chiefs to reunite with 2017 NFL rushing champion Kareem Hunt when starting running back Isiah Pacheco was put on Injured Reserve with a broken fibula. Hunt's familiarity with the Andy Reid offense and Kansas City while still being available as a free agent made him an obvious addition to the tandem of Semaje Perine and Carson Steele.

But after Reid's comments about Pacheco on Wednesday regarding his recovery timetable and the severity of his injury, the Hunt move looks even more genius for the Chiefs.

Speaking with the media and addressing the injury, Reid confirmed that Pacheco's injury required surgery, which he underwent on Wednesday. It was his comment thereafter, though, that raised some eyebrows and shed even more light on reuniting with Hunt:

"I can't give you a time when he'll return. We'll just see if it's this season or next season. We'll see how he does as he goes here."

The fact that not returning this season is on the table with this injury made it absolutely vital for the Chiefs to add a player who offers precisely what Hunt should.

Andy Reid's Isiah Pacheco update makes Chiefs look even better for Kareem Hunt reunion

As I wrote yesterday in the initial wake of the signing, Hunt provides a dual-threat ability that will be to the Chiefs' advantage in not essentially telling opposing defenses what they plan to do on a given play-call based on the backfield personnel. That was critical even with the initial 6-to-8 week timetable given for Pacheco to return when the injury was first reported.

Now that Reid feels uncertain about the possibility of their starter coming back this season and, even if he does, his comments still don't sound too optimistic about how soon he'll be on the field again, it's even more crucial that Hunt is in the fold. His learning curve should be less steep than almost any other addition the organization could've made at this juncture given his previous time with the Chiefs while his skill set is simply better suited for the offense than Perine or Steele individually.

Of course, this is the NFL and we've seen plenty of instances where a logical signing such as this one given the circumstances doesn't actually forecast the team's plans. Maybe Hunt is in the building, on the practice squad to start, as added depth and not much more.

However, if we're reading the tea leaves of this update on Pacheco coming the day after the Chiefs reunited with Hunt, that would seem to indicate the 29-year-old veteran playing a pretty big role for this team for the rest of the season, which makes it look all the better for Brett Veach and Co. in the Kansas City front office.