NOVEMBER 17: In keeping with earlier reports on the matter, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says that Pacheco is expected to return to the lineup for the Chiefs’ Week 12 matchup with the Panthers.
NOVEMBER 12: The Chiefs continue to craft escape routes to keep their unbeaten season — and win streak dating back to last year — alive, but their point differential (plus-58, ninth in the NFL) illuminates the tightrope the two-time reigning champions are walking. As Kansas City prepares for a stretch run that features games against the other three AFC division leaders, some help is on the way.
While Rashee Rice is out for the season and Marquise Brown is not in play to return during the regular season, the other Chiefs skill-position player who suffered a major injury early this year is on the road back. Isiah Pacheco is set to practice this week, ESPN.com’s Adam Teicher reports.
Down with a broken fibula that required surgery, Pacheco has been making progress to the point a late-November return is believed to be in play. That would help a Chiefs run game that has turned to retread Kareem Hunt and Broncos castoff Samaje Perine. Additionally, Teicher notes Charles Omenihu is set to join Pacheco at practice this week.
Omenihu is on Kansas City’s reserve/PUP list and would not count toward the team’s in-season activation total. Pacheco would, but the Chiefs are in good shape in terms of activations. They still have seven of their eight remaining. Both players have three weeks to be activated.
Usurping Clyde Edwards-Helaire as the Chiefs’ top running back during his 2022 rookie season, Pacheco has become a key performer during the franchise’s Super Bowl run. Pacheco has started in both the Chiefs’ previous two Super Bowls, generating strong returns on his seventh-round draft slot. Pacheco cranked out 935 rushing yards in his lone season as a full-time starter, adding 313 more in last season’s playoffs. The Chiefs have Pacheco signed on a rookie deal through the 2025 season.
Like Pacheco, Omenihu has three weeks to return to the 53-man roster. The Chiefs have given the veteran defensive end considerable time to recover from the ACL tear sustained in the 2023 AFC championship game. Signed to a three-year, $24MM deal as a free agent in 2023, Omenihu made an impact, tallying seven regular-season sacks and one more in the playoffs last year. This season has marked the second straight delayed start for Omenihu, who served a six-game suspension for a domestic violence arrest to begin his Chiefs tenure.
Kansas City made two trades to help its EDGE situation this year. Weeks after acquiring Cam Thomas from the Cardinals, the Chiefs added Josh Uche from the Patriots. The team has integrated 2023 first-round D-end Felix Anudike-Uzomah into its rotation more this season, but the Kansas City-area native is still playing just 36% of the team’s defensive snaps. Uche working his way into the mix alongside George Karlaftis and the re-signed Michael Danna will not leave as much room for the second-year player, with Omenihu’s reemergence set to factor into this mix again soon.
Need Pacheco back bad. Can Ohmenihu play LT?