Well, Sunday gave us the surprise, even if it didn’t deliver the party.
The Chiefs unexpectedly announced rookie running back Isiah Pacheco would get the start ahead of team rushing leader Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
That came out of nowhere. It created a mad dash by many to pick up Pacheco while they still could before the Sunday kickoffs started. But he didn’t “get got” in all leagues.
As of Sunday night, he still was listed as rostered in only 51 percent of Yahoo leagues and a mere 14 percent at ESPN. It was a bit more reasonable at CBS, where he was on 70 percent of rosters. The point is, there still is a better-than-slim chance he is available.
Now, the bigger question: Is Pacheco worth adding? After getting a good amount of garbage time in Week 1, the rookie was third on the workload list the next two weeks behind CEH and Jerick McKinnon.
After a one-game spike when he heavily outworked McKinnon, Pacheco went back to being the third wheel in Week 5 before an equal amount of useless usage between him and McKinnon last week (two carries each).
So there was no sign this shift was coming. That makes us nervous, because if it can appear out of nowhere, it presumably can disappear just as easily. But, and this is important, we like having exposure to the Chiefs’ offense. We want those players on our rosters, even if we aren’t starting them every week.
Whoever the lead RB is for Kansas City, we would very much like to have that player on our team. The problem is, we just might not get something that clean cut. Sunday, Pacheco got the start, but he had just eight carries to CEH’s six, and Edwards-Helaire got the TD.
What we can confidently conclude is that McKinnon isn’t going to push his way to the forefront. So if you’re hanging onto to him, let go. But as for the CEH-Pacheco dilemma, that might stick around.
So here’s what we would do: Add Pacheco wherever you can, but don’t force him into your starting lineup. Essentially, we would wait to see a good sign that his work increases steadily, or if he burns us on the bench with a unexpected spike in volume. After either of those events, then we start maneuvering to make sure we’re playing him every week.
If you have Edwards-Helaire, well, consider yourself lucky you got as much production as you did from him early on — it is more than the Madman expected. But also, don’t panic, at least not fully. You probably want to downgrade him to a weekly Flex decision rather than a solid RB2 option.
We believe he will continue to get a decent chunk of work and get the lion’s share of carries near the goal line. So he still has value, even if that value wasn’t what it was as recently as Saturday.
So surprise! Who knew we would be dealing with this today.
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