Isiah Pacheco was apparently dealing with more than the Eagles' stout defense in Super Bowl LVII. The Chiefs' running back played that game with a broken hand and a torn labrum, according to USA Today.
Pacheco dealt with the labrum injury for a significant portion of his rookie season. The hand injury was sustained during Kansas City's AFC Championship Game win over Cincinnati. Pacheco underwent separate surgeries to address both injuries shortly after the Super Bowl.
The injuries did not appear to bother Pacheco in the Super Bowl. On just 15 carries, Pacheco rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs' 38-35 win. The performance capped off a memorable season for Pacheco, the 251st overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft who replaced former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the starting lineup seven games into the season.
Including the playoffs, Pacheco rushed for 1,027 yards and six touchdowns on 207 carries last season. The Chiefs went 13-1 last season with Pacheco in the starting lineup.
"He has all the talent in the world," Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of Pacheco during Super Bowl week. "We keep putting him in there, and he keeps producing. He'll be a main staple for this team for a long time."
Pacheco hasn't been resting on his laurels this offseason. Along with healing his body, Pacheco has been focused on bettering himself for the upcoming season. Eliminating distractions, Pacheco said, is one of the things he's worked on in order to be even more dialed into his craft.
"As a seventh-round pick, I always had something to prove, for the doubters," Pacheco recently told ESPN. "If you dream big, you could go get it, go grab it. That's something I always had in mind of being on this stage, on this level. It feels unreal, but it's real and it's here and so I have to embrace it."
