Isiah Pacheco has two traits that often help rookies get on the field. Is it enough?
Isiah Pacheco has two traits that often help rookies get on the field. Is it enough?
Looking at where the 7th round draft pick can contribute, what might keep him off the field, and where he fits in overall in a crowded RB room.
With all the Isiah Pacheco hype during training camp, it only seemed right to unlock his film review following the draft. He’s got a skillset that KC hasn’t had at the RB position in recent years. If you enjoy going beyond the box score and haven’t subscribed, you can do so now for $12/year by clicking the link below. Enjoy!
Running back is simultaneously very simple to look at, while often being completely unpredictable. Every year, dozens of very talented players enter the league at a position where there is already a large number of “decent” players, and it’s difficult to figure out which players’ skillsets will translate well at the next level (and which will not).
That confounding nature of the position is part of why there are many quality running backs in the league who were not high draft picks. It also happens to be a position in which situation often determines statistical production more than the player himself (unless that player is Jamaal Charles, one of the only running backs of the last 30 years to move the needle on his own).
All that is a long road to a short thought; Running back is hard to project to the next level given the tie-in between talent and situation. And so what we do is look for particular traits and project as best we can. Traits like burst, for example.
We’ll talk more about that in a moment. Isiah Pacheco (not Isaih, after a relatively recent name-spelling change) is a 5’10”, 216-pound running back coming out of Rutgers after four years in which he played a large role in the offense each year. As a 7th round pick with decent but not terrific college production, there’s obviously a question as to whether there should be expectations for him to get a role in the offense.
That said, running back is a “traits and situation position.” And a couple of the traits Pacheco has are at least interesting in the context of the Chiefs’ current team makeup.
Where Pacheco wins
Pacheco has some ability that makes him intriguing with good blocking and in the right system. The way that he generally wins is with a solid burst/acceleration and decent speed once he reaches is top gear. That allows him to take advantage of holes when they’re there and get through them quickly to chew up yardage some yardage before contact.
Having an initial burst serves players in several ways when running between the tackles. The first is in getting to and past the line of scrimmage before holes close and linebackers fill. The second is in getting to the second level in time to have an angle that allows you to run around the incoming defenders who are looking to stop you short of turning a short gain into a longer gain. The third is being fast enough to mess with short-space angles and force defenders to pursue rather than close.
Note how here Pacheco is able to burst through the hole in time to take advantage of the blocking (including the 2nd level block on a LB who would’ve made a play had Pacheco just been a fraction of a second slower) and mess with angles at the second level, making a short gain a longer one.
This is pretty consistent on Pacheco’s film when there’s a hole to exploit, and it’s one of the reasons burst/acceleration/speed is one of the first things we look at with a runner. Every fraction of a second matters in the phone booth.
Pacheco’s burst/speed also allows him to win some races to the edge. He’s not a complete burner, but he can get to the spot faster than many defenders (particularly linebackers) and at least bend pursuit angles.
This play isn’t incredible, but it’s demonstrative of how important a fraction of a second’s worth of speed can be. If Pacheco were even a hair slower here this is a stuff at the line or maybe a loss. Instead, he’s able to gain decent yardage on the play. It’s also demonstrative that Pacheco doesn’t have GREAT speed to completely leave the defender behind despite the angle, but GOOD speed to at least turn the corner.
Pacheco’s speed can also help him in the open field when he’s facing defenders who are squaring up in space. When you’ve got an extra gear, you can simply run around such players and beat them to the sideline.
Some things are just simpler when you’re a little bit faster than the other guy, such as hesitating in space and then just running away because you can stop/start better than he can. Pacheco can’t always run away from defenders (again, good speed, not great speed), but he does it often enough that it’s interesting.
We’ll talk more about this shortly, but Pacheco’s extra burst is something that sets him apart from the Chiefs’ running back room from 2021, and might put him in the conversation with Ronald Jones as the only two running backs in the room who have the ability to burst through the hole with speed and win races to the edge.
What I think might give Pacheco a chance (and it’s still a longshot chance) to see some snaps, though, is the fact that unlike most rookies he appears quite capable and comfortable in pass protection.
Rutgers asked Pacheco to help out very frequently as a pass protector, and he consistently did a nice job of it. A big part of that is having the requisite size and effort (not a guarantee for running backs, where one or the other is often missing). However, he also utilizes his feet and pad level well and aggressively when asked to help out as a pass protector. Here, he’s the final line of defense against Aidan Hutchinson, and he does an exceptional job delivering an initial pop and then keeping his feet driving while maintaining contact.
Pacheco was consistently solid with his feet and hands in pass protection and was able to take defenders on one-on-one long enough to allow for throws to come out. He also showed good assignment savvy and the ability to see where pressure was coming from in cases of games/blitzes by defenses.
Pacheco’s willingness and ability as a pass blocker is something that could allow him to get on the field earlier than a lot of rookies, as that’s a part where many struggle. The physicality he shows there is also likely why the Chiefs were interested, as any 7th rounder is going to be considered as one of Dave Toub’s special teamers in all likelihood. But it’s at least fun to consider the idea of the rookie being able to grab some time on the field thanks to fundamentals as much as physical skillset.
Pacheco’s flaws or unknowns
This is the less fun part for any player, especially one with some interesting traits.
That said, Pachco has some flaws that were part of what led to his lack of high-level productivity in college despite his physical traits. The first is that he’s not a particularly shifty running back in terms of lateral agility and change of direction. It’s not a serious issue, but it’s not an area he consistently “won” at the college level. Think of him as the anti-CEH, who has incredibly agility but lacks burst. Pacheco has some burst but didn’t show much in the way of that agility.
More seriously, Pacheco is an upright runner who doesn’t consistently break tackles or gain a lot of yardage after contact. He has the size profile to do so, but he just seems to lack the shiftiness and balance to win that way once he’s squared up with defenders. He’s not a pile-mover either, so most of the yardage you’re going to get from him is going to be pre-contact.
Pacheco also doesn’t create yardage in terms of vision. He’s a player who will wait for a moment and then go, either attacking the hole that’s immediately apparent or simply trying to slam forward for a few yards. He’s not a terribly patient runner and didn’t show a consistent ability to set up blockers a step or two ahead, rather just the ability to take what is there.
A question mark in Pacheco’s game is his ability as a receiver. He wasn’t asked to do a lot in the way of routes and didn’t look particularly comfortable on the ones he did run, so he’s largely an unknown and/or unfinished product there. He was much more often in pass protection than on routes. Of course, if the Chiefs continue to simply ask running backs to serve as dump-off options rather than running any more of a complicated route tree that may not be problematic, but it’s worth noting.
The weak spots of Pacheco’s game make him a runner who can take advantage of what blockers give him (speed/burst/decisiveness) but isn’t going to necessarily create yardage when the blocking isn’t there.
Pacheco’s role in 2022 and beyond
Pacheco intrigues me. His 2 best traits (speed/burst and blocking) are of a sort that can help rookies get on the field right away, and that shouldn’t be ignored. So much of the running back position is dependent on the blocking received up front, and Pacheco’s physical traits might put him in position to do “above average” work with good blocking. And that’s the thing, the Chiefs have very good run blocking.
What would a player with superior burst do with the sort of blocking the Chiefs are already providing up front with Brown/Thuney/Humphrey/Smith/Wylie (Kinnard?)? It’s almost impossible to say, but the basic physics of the game tell us that a guy who can hit the hole a moment faster, or get to the edge a moment quicker, has an immediate advantage that the other guys don’t.
That said, it’s tough for a runner who can’t create extra yards to become a significant contributor at the NFL level, and Pacheco didn’t show much of that in college. He also is facing an uphill battle to see playing time against an ingrained starter (CEH, who is apparently finally healthy), a free agent signing (Jones), and a player who flashed last season (Gore). It’s much more likely that Pacheco sees opportunities as a special teams player who might get a shot on a few carries as the year moves along (and even that’s more contingent on injuries/blowouts).
That said, those two traits are at least worth looking at, and a team that lacked speed at running back last year would do well to at least see what he can do behind the first-team blocking a time or two. Because, much like Jones, the skillset he does have is something the Chiefs desperately needed previously.
Interested to see him in preseason and hope he shows out. I appreciate your articles and time investment.
I am absolutely, positively, definitively ambiguous about this guy. (I believe in clearly defined areas of uncertainty.) But it was cool getting a refresher course in analyzing RB play.
I'll say this: he was certainly drafted by the right team for a RB who is both willing and able to pass-block effectively. There's nothing more important than keeping 15 upright and healthy.