Isiah Pacheco was hoping that a fresh start might bring a chance for a rebound after a couple of injury-plagued seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024-25. Instead, his first season with the Detroit Lions is begnning with serious medical setbacks.
Lions reporter Tim Twentyman shared the news that Pacheco will undergo back surgery, which means the veteran running back will be out for some time. Ari Meirov made it clear that a timeline for his return has yet to be determined, but the Lions aren't counting on anything from Pacheco anytime soon.
Pacheco joined the Lions in March to serve as a complement to Jahmyr Gibbs in the ground game. Unfortunately, the injury bug bit him in early August when an MCL sprain kept him out of preseason practice. Then came a back injury that ultimately led him to surgery while the Lions found others to shore up the backfield—namely, Sione Vaki and Jacob Saylors.
The Lions recently hosted former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt on a free-agent visit, and it will be interesting to see if Dan Campbell's team replacing one Chiefs back with another. Hunt was the Chiefs' leading rusher in each of the last two seasons after taking over the lead back role for long stretches from Pacheco, who was injured in his final two years in K.C.
Before hitting the wall with health concerns, Pacheco was an impressive late-round find in the 2022 NFL Draft, a former seventh-round pick out of Rutgers who became the Chiefs' leading rusher as they built the NFL's most recent dynasty. Pacheco had 576 career carries for 2,537 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns over the last four seasons in Kansas City. That total sits at No. 14 overall on the Chiefs all-time rushing leaders list.
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