Isiah Pacheco started his career by saying his goal was to come to the Kansas City Chiefs and take another grown man’s job. But now that the job he took belongs to someone else and his time in Kansas City is over, how will Pacheco’s time with the Chiefs be remembered?
The former Chief, now a Detroit Lion, leaves Kansas City as a two-time Super Bowl champion. But he also leaves town with a sense of unfilled potential, a feeling that his career didn’t quite make it to the peak that his early form suggested he might reach.
Pacheco made a big splash almost immediately after the Chiefs called his name. Hours after being selected by Kansas City in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Pacheco made those now-famous comments about his intention to earn a roster spot at the cost of someone else. And that’s exactly what happened.
After talking the talk, Pacheco walked the walk in his first two seasons. He had 830 yards and five touchdowns in his rookie season, averaging 4.9 yards per attempt, as well as a touchdown in the Super Bowl LVII win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Pacheco backed that up with an even better sophomore season—nine touchdowns, more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage (935 yards rushing, 244 yards receiving), an average of 67 yards per game, and 4.6 yards per carry. In the playoffs, Pacheco had a rushing touchdown in the Wild Card, Divisional, and AFC Championship games as the Chiefs went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
Peak Pacheco didn’t last as long as anyone expected
That season was peak Pacheco. We just didn’t know it at the time. From that point on, things took a turn south. Pacheco suffered a serious injury against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2 of the 2024 season, a broken fibula that would sideline him for nine weeks. He hasn’t been the same player since.
The numbers before and after the injury are night and day. Of Pacheco’s top 20 games with the highest number of rushing yards, 19 of them came before he broke his leg. The one that came after is ranked 20th.
An average yards per carry that was over 4.5 in his first two seasons sank to 3.7 and 3.9 in 2024 and 2025. Pacheco hasn’t had a single game with more than 60 rushing yards—let alone 100 yards—since that fateful Bengals game. His longest run last year was just 16 yards.
I went back and watched Pacheco’s highlights from 2023, and the difference between that and what we saw from him last season is mind-blowing. The open-field speed, the broken tackles, the explosion through a gap—it’s literally like watching a different player.
The injury changed everything for Pacheco and the Chiefs
Because of that, when I think back on Pacheco’s time in Kansas City, I’ll be left with the lingering question of what could have been. What would have happened if Pacheco hadn’t broken his leg against the Bengals?
Could he have become a top-10 running back in the NFL? What would the Chiefs’ offense have looked like last year if they had 2023 Pacheco on the field? Could a fully fit and healthy Pacheco have been the piece that helped the Chiefs complete the three-peat? We’ll never know.
What I do know is that, in the end, I was fine with Pacheco leaving to join Detroit this offseason. Maybe I was even glad that he wouldn’t be one of Kansas City’s running backs next season, which is a harsh and sad thing to say, especially about a player who was so well-liked and appreciated early on.
I’ll miss the juice, the broken tackles, the hard-stomping running style, and the numbers Pacheco brought in his first two seasons, but I won’t miss the productivity he had in his last two.
Pacheco will always be a Chief and a Super Bowl champion. In years to come, I’ll watch the playoff games and the Super Bowls from 2023 and 2024, and when I see Pacheco, I’ll think, “Man, he was good those first two years. I wonder what could have been.”