Kansas City is at Los Angeles tonight, and I will be interested to see how Isiah Pacheco performs. He seems to be taking command of that running game, to the point where Clyde Edwards-Helaire hardly got on the field last week.
Pacheco had the best game of his career last week, carrying 16 times for 82 yards against Jacksonville. Two weeks ago, he carried 8 times for 43 at San Francisco. (In Week 9 against Tennessee, not so much – just 5 carries for 5 yards.)
In the game tonight, he’ll be facing a defense that’s really struggled against the run. The Chargers rank 30th against the run, and they’ve been getting worse recently. They’ve allowed an averaged of 166 rushing yards in their last seven games, with 11 TDs on the ground. So I’m thinking this is a rare week where you can roll Pacheco out there with some optimism he should run for 70-plus yards, with a chance at a touchdown.
On the downside, they don’t use him much at all as a pass catcher. He’s caught only 3 passes for 13 yards all year. That hurts him in PPR formats.
That we’re talking about Pacheco at all is remarkable. In the last 20 years, there have been 127 running backs selected with seventh-round picks. None of those guys put up top-40 numbers in their first season. Only two cracked the top-50, and it happened 10 years ago – Bryce Brown with the Eagles (where he played for Andy Reid) and Daryl Richardson with the Rams.
Only 16 of those 127 running backs even ranked in the top 100 statistically. Now, some of those backs went on to have much success in future seasons, including Chris Carson, Myles Gaskin, Ahmad Bradshaw, Peyton Hillis and Rashad Jennings. But it’s rare to see a seventh-round pick have success like Pacheco, especially right away.
| SEVENTH-ROUND RUNNING BACKS IN THE TOP 100 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rushing | Receiving | PPR | Rk |
| 2012 | Bryce Brown, Phil. | 115-564-4 | 13-56-0 | 99.0 | 43 |
| 2012 | Daryl Richardson, St.L. | 98-475-0 | 24-163-0 | 89.8 | 46 |
| 2008 | Peyton Hillis, Den. | 68-343-5 | 14-179-1 | 102.2 | 51 |
| 2007 | DeShawn Wynn, G.B. | 50-203-4 | 9-73-0 | 60.6 | 71 |
| 2016 | Dwayne Washington, Det. | 90-265-1 | 10-62-0 | 48.7 | 74 |
| 2018 | Justin Jackson, LAC | 50-206-2 | 15-135-0 | 61.1 | 75 |
| 2009 | Rashad Jennings, Jac. | 39-202-1 | 16-101-0 | 52.3 | 76 |
| 2017 | Chris Carson, Sea. | 49-208-0 | 7-59-1 | 39.7 | 86 |
| 2009 | LaRod Stephens-Howling, Ariz. | 6-15-0 | 10-83-1 | 31.8 | 87 |
| 2019 | Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 36-133-1 | 7-51-0 | 31.4 | 90 |
| 2002 | Rock Cartwright, Was. | 3-22-0 | 11-121-1 | 31.3 | 90 |
| 2007 | Ahmad Bradshaw, NYG | 23-190-1 | 2-12-0 | 28.2 | 93 |
| 2011 | Bruce Miller, S.F. | 4-8-0 | 11-83-1 | 26.1 | 93 |
| 2014 | Kerwynn Williams, Ariz. | 53-246-0 | 2-11-0 | 27.7 | 96 |
| 2005 | Noah Herron, 2TM | 48-123-2 | 0-0-0 | 24.3 | 98 |
| 2020 | Malcolm Perry, Mia. | 3-5-0 | 9-92-1 | 24.7 | 99 |
| 2022 | Isiah Pacheco, K.C. | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan