The campers age 6-16 assembled on the Lincoln Prep track and broke out in chant.
Pa-chec-O!
Pa-chec-O!
Soon Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco arrived at his one-day event, and the cone drills and photos commenced.
“This means a lot to me, the kids coming out here, their parents,” Pacheco said. “There are a lot of kids running around with your name on their shirt.”
The Chiefs begins Organized Team Activities (OTAs) next week, and this shapes up as a big season for the running back coming off his most frustrating season as a pro.
Pacheco looked to build on his first seasons as the primary starter when he combined for 1,765 yards and 12 touchdowns. He reached the end zone in four of the his first seven playoff games and won two Super Bowl rings.
But 2024 went off track early when Pacheco fractured a fibula in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals and missed the next nine games.
The Chiefs signed their former standout, Kareem Hunt. Pacheco was reinserted as a starter upon his return — he started his third straight Super Bowl — but wasn’t as effective and he finished the season at 3.7 yards per rushing attempt, well below his career 4.5-yard average.
Andy Reid said most players wouldn’t have returned from the type of injured Pacheco suffered but he may have been a tick off.
“He was physically OK to go,” Reid said at the NFL Annual Meeting in March. “But when you’re looking at it, it’s minute stuff. Just maybe that ability to cut as quick as he did before. Now it’s still quick, but you’re talking inches here. Was it what he could do before? Well, it wasn’t.”
Pacheco, who also was dealing with a rib injury late in the season, said there are no health issues.
“I’m doing great,” Pacheco said. “We’re excited about this year coming up.”
As Pacheco enters the final year of his rookie contract, he’s listed atop the depth chart ahead of Hunt, the Chiefs’ third-round draft pick in 2017.
The Chiefs signed Hunt, who led the team with 728 rushing yards last season, to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million for 2025.
The Chiefs also signed Elijah Mitchell, who appeared in 27 games over three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and has averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
Plus, the Chiefs drafted a running back for the first time since taking Pacheco in the seventh round in 2022. Again, they waited until the seventh round to select Brashard Smith, who played running back last season but spent his first three college years playing wide receiver at Miami (Florida).
The Chiefs seek more production at the position. As a team, they finished 27th in yards per carry at 4.0 and in the bottom half in rushing touchdowns (15). Losing Pacheco was a big part of the trend.
“I think you’ll get even a better player this year,” Reid said.
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Blair Kerkhoff has covered sports for The Kansas City Star since 1989. He was elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.