After shining for head coach Greg Schiano at Rutgers, Isiah Pacheco was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft by Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. It was a big-time chance for the 23-year-old to play alongside arguably the best QB-head coach combo the NFL had to offer.
A seventh-round rookie is never guaranteed a spot, so Pacheco immediately got to work when he arrived at training camp. He excelled in practice and in preseason games, hoping to contribute where he could once the regular season kicked off.
Coming in behind former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire and free agent signee Jerrick McKinnon on the depth chart, it took a while for Pacheco to find a groove. He only had double-digit touches twice in the first nine weeks of the season.
But due to injuries to his teammates, he found his chances, and he made the most of them. He started finding a role in the offense and accounted for 730 of his 960 all-purpose yards since Week 10.
In the playoffs, he's led the Chiefs in rushing in both games and now finds himself in the Super Bowl, potentially as a key factor.
No one in the NFL plays the pass better than the Eagles' defense. Whether it's their high turnover rate or their historical sack percentage, it's tough to move the ball through the air. Yet against the rush, the Eagles fall to a middling 15th in yards given up and 24th in yards per attempt.
Leading the Chiefs to a ground-and-pound victory will be a tall task, which should be cake for a man well-versed in facing them.
