The Kansas City Chiefs escaped Sunday Night Football with a win over the New York Giants to improve to 1-2 on the season and avoid a disastrous 0-3 start heading into this week’s home game against the 1-2 Ravens. Despite their slow start, the Chiefs’ offense is still one that can be productive from a fantasy perspective, and they have developed an interesting timeshare in their backfield between Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. With both backs sharing work, do either have independent fantasy value and how can you approach the situation going forward?
Let’s dive into the murky waters of the Chiefs’ backfield timeshare and see if there’s value in either option for Week 4 against the Ravens and going forward in season-long leagues.
Isiah Pacheco Fantasy Football Outlook
Coming into last season, Pacheco was the running back of the future for the Chiefs and one of their top skill position options. Everyone was excited about his potential, and he went early in most drafts. All that came crashing down in Week 2 against the Bengals when Pacheco suffered a fractured fibula.
While he was out, the Chiefs brought Hunt back, and he took over as a fill-in option until Pacheco returned in Week 13. The two running backs shared work down the stretch last year with both flashing potential but neither as reliable producers.
That trend has continued into 2025, with a timeshare firmly in place. Pacheco played 51% of snaps in Week 1, 58% in Week 2 and 56% in Week 3. He hasn’t been getting nearly the volume of work he would need to be an every-week starter for most fantasy formats, and he hasn’t been especially effective in the touches he has received.
He had five carries and two catches in Week 1 for 28 rushing and receiving yards. In Week 2, he got 10 carries and a catch for 29 rushing and receiving yards, and in Week 3 he had 10 more carries for 48 rushing and receiving yards. He has yet to find the end zone in any of those contests and lost the goal-line work to Hunt (more below).
He still has flex upside, especially with bye weeks coming up, but he’s not getting enough work or being effective enough to be a reliable top-25 running back. In fact, he’s not in my top 30 running backs for Week 4.
Kareem Hunt Fantasy Football Outlook
Hunt had the same workload as Pacheco in Week 3, totaling 10 carries and one target. He finished with slightly fewer rushing yards (34) and slightly more receiving yards (10), but the big difference was that he got the short-yardage touchdown in the Chiefs’ victory.
That one-yard plunge gave Hunt the only running back touchdown of the season so far. His playing time has climbed each week, starting at 38% in Week 1, increasing to 40% in Week 2 and climbing to 44% in Week 3’s win. Hunt’s 10 carries in Week 3 were also a season-high.
He’s creeping into an even timeshare with Pacheco, which is enough to put him on the radar as a deep flex option. He isn’t as likely to take over as a full-time option, barring injury, so he doesn’t have the same season-long value as Pacheco. However, on a one-week basis, the two backs have almost the same value, with Hunt maybe even having a slight advantage due to his work as the primary third-down and short-yardage back.
While Pacheco is almost universally owned, Hunt is still widely available in season-long leagues, and he can be a solid waiver addition if you need a short-term fill-in. He’s also outside my top 30 this week, so I don’t see him as a starter against the Ravens, but if you are looking for depth headed into bye week season, he’s not a horrible one-week option as a touchdown-dependent replacement.
The Bottom Line
Neither Chiefs running back is especially attractive at this point since the offense isn’t scoring a ton of points, and they’re each siphoning value from each other. There is potential as the Chiefs get their offense right that one or both will have good weeks in the future, though, so they each do still have some fantasy value.
For season-long leagues, Pacheco is the better option but Hunt makes sense if he’s available and the other big-name waiver wire running backs are already snatched up in your league.
For one-week contests, like this week’s NFL $3M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st] on DraftKings, both backs could be interesting value plays since the Ravens have given up more fantasy points to running backs than any other team in the NFL. Pacheco is only $5,000 and Hunt is even cheaper at $4,800. If either one or both find the end zone in Week 4, they’ll be good value plays, and Hunt’s lower salary makes him an especially intriguing bargain play for DFS against the Ravens if you are stacking superstars in other spots.
