Should I Drop Isiah Pacheco or Clyde Edwards-Helaire? Fantasy Football Outlook

Over their first eight games of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs led the NFL in points per game with 30.4 points per game. Surely, this means they have a stud fantasy running back, right? Guess again.

This has been one of the ugliest backfield splits in the league through the first nine weeks. Isiah Pacheco, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and Jerick McKinnon all get a shot to touch the ball week in and week out, leading to frustration for fantasy managers.

Are either Isiah Pacheco or Clyde Edwards-Helaire droppable in fantasy? Read on to find out.

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Isiah Pacheco's 2022 Season

Pacheco is a seventh-round rookie out of Rutgers who has consistently been a thorn in the side of Clyde Edwards-Helaire drafters this season. In their past two games, Kansas City has rolled out Pacheco with the starters.

Despite being the starter in each of the past two games, Pacheco has had a 30% and 22% snap share in each game, respectively. He had eight carries in Week 7 and just five carries in Week 9 (the Chiefs were on bye in Week 8).

The usage has not been there to make him a player that you can confidently insert into your lineup despite being the starting running back for the highest-scoring team in football.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire's 2022 Season

Edwards-Helaire was famously selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, immediately garnering hype as a Round 1 fantasy selection. He busted for two seasons and fell in ADP to the RB27 this season. Drafters were happy with the early-season returns; however, all the signs were there for negative regression. If you didn’t sell high, it is too late now.

Edwards-Helaire’s snap percentage only surpassed 50% once (56% in Week 4, a blowout victory over Tampa Bay), and in the past two games with Pacheco starting, he has had snap percentages of 27% and 17%, respectively. This past weekend, Edwards-Helaire only had four carries and two targets (one reception).

Should I Drop or Hold Pacheco and Edwards-Helaire in Fantasy Football?

Despite the egregious usage from the three-headed Kansas City backfield, I would strongly suggest holding both Pacheco and Edwards-Helaire on your fantasy team if you have the capability to do so. Not only this, but I would also recommend keeping an eye on Jerick McKinnon as a waiver wire target.

Why? Well, Kansas City has a very favorable schedule for running backs moving forward. Although it may take an injury to make one of these players a comfortable start, the potential of one of them emerging as a league winner is just too juicy.

In Weeks 14 and 15, Rounds 1 and 2 of the fantasy playoffs, the Chiefs play against Houston and Seattle. Seattle allows 24.1 PPG (28th) to opposing running backs, and Houston allows 29.1 PPG (32nd).

Keep all Kansas City running backs on the bench for now, but feel good about having them there.

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