The Kansas City Chiefs are making a change at the running back position -- sort of.
According to a report from NFL Media, Kansas City is expected to start rookie Isiah Pacheco ahead of Clyde Edwards-Helaire during the team's Week 7 game against the San Francisco 49ers. CEH, though, is still expected to have a significant role in the offense and see significant snaps.
Pacheco, a seventh-round pick out of Rutgers, has played only 55 offensive snaps so far this season. He has taken 31 carries for 149 yards, with the majority of his work coming late in a Week 1 blowout win over the Cardinals (12 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown) and while mixing in throughout the Chiefs' Week 4 victory over the Buccaneers (11 carries for 63 yards). In the other four games, he combined for just 24 yards on eight totes.
Edwards-Helaire was Kansas City's first-round pick back in 2020, after the Chiefs had defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs had just won it all with a backfield consisting of undrafted free agents Damien Williams and Darrel Williams, plus late-career LeSean McCoy, so the pick was roundly criticized in some circles for being poor value. Considering the first two picks of the second round were wide receivers Tee Higgins and Michael Pittman and the Chiefs are now scaling back CEH's responsibilities in favor of a seventh-round rookie, those critics would appear to have had a point.
