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Will Isiah Pacheco start for the Kansas City Chiefs when he returns? John Johnson breaks down the Week 11 Isiah Pacheco return timeline and fantasy football outlook.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco (knee) suffered a knee injury late in his Week 8 contest against the Washington Commanders. He hasn't played since then -- he missed his Week 9 game, and Week 10 was the Chiefs' bye week.
In his place, we've seen running backs Kareem Hunt and Brashard Smith split the backfield work, with Hunt accounting for the majority of the carries and Smith being involved minimally. Hunt carried the ball 11 times for 49 yards and a touchdown last week, while Smith had just three carries for seven yards.
Hunt is maintaining his goal-line role, and while he didn't have a big day last week, there's always the chance the Chiefs could give him a bigger role moving forward and make him the starter. So will Pacheco be the RB1 for the Chiefs when he returns? Let's dive in.
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Will Isiah Pacheco Start For The Chiefs When He Returns?
The role Pacheco had, while he was technically the starter, didn't exactly feature a ton of touches. Of his eight games, he's only had one in which he had 15 or more touches, which came in Week 7, when he had 15 carries and one reception.
This hasn't resulted in a ton of fantasy points, obviously, and he's been one of the biggest busts of the season. But he has played in over 50 percent of the team's offensive snaps in all but one contest. He's been the team's primary early-down back.
Andy Reid: Let me scheme up a great play to isolate Josh Simmons on the left side as a lead blocker to get a touchdown
Isiah Pacheco: Nah I'm good pic.twitter.com/YIKgptv58c
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 6, 2025
Pacheco's speed is his best trait by far. He lacks any kind of serviceable vision, though, which is a huge knock on his game, and a big reason he struggles to get more touches. Hunt was a free agent signed off the street, but has better vision, can follow his blockers better, and find the right holes in the defense better than Pacheco can.
Still, the Chiefs have had plenty of time to think about how their backfield should operate. The rotation they've shown this season seems pretty well-established for the veterans, so it's hard to see it changing greatly moving forward.
Isiah Pacheco Fantasy Football Outlook
There isn't much to get excited about, even when he comes back fully healthy. He was a terrible draft pick to make in fantasy football this season, and that hasn't changed. He has just two games with double-digit PPR fantasy points this season, and it's hard to see things changing in a big way.
He doesn't get enough touches to be a big fantasy asset, and he's killed his PPR upside with a ton of terrible drops. The passes have largely been going to Hunt and Smith out of the backfield, though the Chiefs abandoned using the RBs in the pass game in Week 9.
Andy Reid: Let me scheme up a great play to isolate Josh Simmons on the left side as a lead blocker to get a touchdown
Isiah Pacheco: Nah I'm good pic.twitter.com/YIKgptv58c
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 6, 2025
It's mostly Pacheco getting in his own way here, too, but he has very little awareness. He often drops passes when he's open, just as a concentration error, often seems not to know what's going on during the play, as in the play above, and isn't a patient runner.
The workhorse role he had in 2023 has evaporated, and it's hard to imagine it's not because Chiefs head coach Andy Reid wanted to shake things up. The broken leg he suffered early in the 2024 season seems to have catalyzed this shift.
It's hard to even trust him as a flex option now. And he's hard to drop because he's technically the starting RB, so he'll get a lot more work if Hunt gets injured. A bench stash roster clogger is what he is for now, unfortunately.
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Popular Week 11 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular Week 11 searches and comparisons from our 'Who To Start' tool for Kareem Hunt, Kyle Monangai, Tony Pollard, Tyler Allgeier, Jacory Croskey-Merrit, Sean Tucker compared to others:
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