Chiefs playing with fire by ignoring key position that surprisingly isn't WR

The Kansas City Chiefs did a great job addressing their wide receiver room this offseason by signing free agent Hollywood Brown and selecting Xavier Worthy in the 2024 NFL Draft. They did a pretty decent job of addressing most other possibly problematic positional depth issues -- except one. 

Isiah Pacheco is the undisputed starter at running back for the Chiefs. He has 1,765 rushing yards in his first two seasons with Kansas City, and another 374 receiving yards. He has 12 rushing touchdowns and two through the air. 

Behind him is the man he replaced as a starter, Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Since Pacheco’s arrival two seasons ago, CEH has 525 yards rushing and 331 receiving yards. 

Once you look past Pacheco and veteran Edwards-Helaire, the cupboard appears pretty bare. The Chiefs have three rookies on their roster right now, and another back who was with the team in 2023 who didn’t have a touch. Only one other back has any touches in the NFL.

Does Chiefs run game need Isiah Pacheco insurance?

Pacheco is an effective runner, with enough power and vision to work the middle and just enough speed to work to the outside on occasion. He is also a punishing runner without much swivel to his running style, mentally or physically. He’d just as soon plant his foot, lower his shoulder, and run over a defender rather than trying to avoid a hit. 

While it is extremely entertaining to watch, and his enthusiasm is refreshing, it is also not a running style conducive to a lengthy, healthy career in the NFL. He’s already had to deal with some injuries, including a concussion in December. He was banged up through the postseason his rookie season and he missed three games last season. 

Late in the season in 2023, Edwards-Helaire looked like a different back. He was effective late in the season out of the backfield in the passing game. He also was adequate when running the ball, but like Pacheco, he has a history of injuries himself. 

The only other running back on the roster with any touches in an NFL game is Keaontay Ingram, who has a total of 134 yards rushing and 47 receiving in two years with the Cardinals. That’s it! Deneric Prince was on the Chiefs’ practice squad most of 2023, and the rest of the backs are rookies. 

Rookies Emani Bailey, Carson Steele, and Louis Rees-Zammit round out the running back corps at this time. The most intriguing option might be  Rees-Zammit, a former rugby player. He is certainly a project, but if he makes the final roster as a special teams player, it is likely head coach Andy Reid will have a package or two drawn up to take advantage of his speed and athleticism.

How Rees-Zammit's size and skills might translate to the NFL is a bigger discussion that was analyzed by Andrew Miller of Sports Science Agency. Here is but a small snippet of their evaluation.

"While Rees-Zammit possesses good size for a rugby player, standing at 6 feet, 2 inches and weighing around 200 pounds, part of this transition has been focused around his need to bulk up slightly to withstand the physicality of the NFL. Additionally, his upper body strength will be crucial in battling for contested catches and fending off defenders significantly bigger and heavier than him."

Most likely, Ingram and Prince will battle it out in camp for the third sport on the depth chart, though both Steele and Bailey offered some intrigue if they can move up the charts a bit. Steele produced nearly 3,294 yards rushing and 486 receiving over three seasons at Ball State and UCLA. 

Bailey was unimpressive in two seasons at Louisiana and in his first season at TCU, but produced 1,209 rushing yards and 184 receiving yards his senior season. 

The Chiefs are clearly a pass-first, run the ball if they have to kind of offense, but they did show an ability to grind it out on the ground if they had to in 2023. Pacheco is certainly a grind-it-out back, as is Edwards-Helaire, even if he isn’t quite as good as Pacheco at it. 

If anything were to happen to one, or both, of these backs, it will be interesting to see what production the Chiefs might get from the rest of the backs. They might have to prove the idea that it might not matter who you plug in and that any back can be effective to a degree. 

So much attention has been focused on the wide receivers. Hopefully, it won’t be an issue that Kansas City spent almost no resources on their running backs.