The post-bye Kansas City Chiefs’ backfield will be shorthanded again when they visit the Denver Broncos for Sunday’s Week 11 collision. ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed on Friday afternoon that No. 1 running back Isiah Pacheco will miss the looming Broncos clash due to a knee injury that has kept him out of the lineup since Week 8.
Pacheco hasn’t exactly dazzled this season (career-worst 41.1 rushing yards per game), but it’s safe to say Kansas City would prefer to have him rather than be shorthanded. Instead, the Chiefs will turn to the rest of the backfield to handle rushing duties this weekend, potentially opening the door for rookie RB Brashard Smith to get back into the fan base’s good graces.
Drafted 228th overall in April, Smith is someone whom Chiefs fans wanted to see on the field early and often this season. With Kareem Hunt not getting any younger and Pacheco missing the majority of 2024 due to injury, the hope was that Smith would add some juice out of the backfield if his veteran counterparts faltered early on.
Even though Hunt and Pacheco had slow starts to the year, the Chiefs limited Smith’s early opportunities. At least, until Week 7, when the ex-SMU Mustang converted a season-high 19 touches (14 carries, 5 receptions) into 81 total yards from scrimmage across 28 offensive snaps. Kansas City fans thought that performance was a turning point, but they couldn’t have been more wrong.
Since his breakout, Smith has fallen back out of favor, seeing only six carries for 15 yards on 21 snaps in the last two games. He hasn’t even been targeted once in the passing game during that stretch, further proving that his outburst vs. the Las Vegas Raiders in mid-October didn’t mean as much as fans hoped.
Fortunately, a big-time clash with the Broncos could be what Smith needs to get back on track. With Denver allowing the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game (91.2), quarterback Patrick Mahomes could opt to use his RBs more as pass-catchers, especially since the AFC West rival is a mixed bag at defending passes to runners:
- Receiving yards vs. RBs: 294(15th)
- Receiving TDs vs. RBs: 3 (T-4th)
- Receptions vs. RBs: 27 (32nd)
- Yards per reception vs. RBs: 10.9 (T-1st)
What’s frustrating is that instead of trying to get Smith going again, the Chiefs even had practice squad reunion RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire carry the ball twice against the Buffalo Bills in Week 9. Edwards-Helaire is a known commodity at this point, and his best days are behind him, so the fact that Kansas City used him as much as it did indicates that the first-year pro still has much to prove.
Hopefully, that changes moving forward, as Smith is younger, giving him more of an upside than Edwards-Helaire at this stage of their respective careers. Besides, successfully integrating the rookie into the backfield and giving him a role he can thrive in will put the Chiefs’ backfield in an even better spot when Pacheco finally returns.
But if he doesn’t capitalize on what’s in front of him, or the Chiefs even limit his chances again, one has to wonder just how much of a future Smith actually has in Kansas City.
