Here’s why Brashard Smith should be added in all fantasy leagues this week:
He’s carried the ball zero, one, two and four times. He’s rushed for zero, two, 13 and nine yards. He’s received zero, one, one and four targets and caught three for 27 yards. Ooh, baby! If that didn’t convince you, the most snaps he’s played in a game is 26% and he was selected in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Smith is the antithesis of Tre Tucker, who was a popular waiver wire pickup last week after scoring three touchdowns and playing at least 90% of the snaps in every contest so far. Tucker has fully bloomed while Smith is just starting to sprout leaves, but the upside could be higher, with “could” being the operative word here.
The Kansas City Chiefs still have Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt on the roster, so Smith has plenty of hurdles to jump over before becoming a fantasy force. But the risk/reward here is favorable because there’s a scenario in which Smith becomes the guy for the Chiefs while the cost is either nothing, or just spending some FAAB.
Pacheco is averaging only 3.9 yards per carry while the snap share plummeted to 37% in Week 4 after being in the 50% range over the first three weeks of the season. Hunt is averaging only 3.2 yards per carry and has a snap share in the 40% range.
Smith is 5-foot-10, 194 pounds and runs a 4.39 40-yard dash. He’s got young legs and the juice jumps off the screen, especially in comparison Pacheco and Hunt. Smith was a receiver in college before transitioning to running back, and he thrived in both capacities.
While he was drafted in the seventh round, the Chiefs had a mid-round grade on him and contemplated selecting him in the fifth round. Due to a deep running back class, Smith fell to the seventh round and the Chiefs traded two seventh-round picks to move up and select him.
Smith performed well in the offseason. Back in June, ESPN’s Adam Teicher wrote, “Judging from how he was utilized in offseason practices, the Chiefs have plans for Smith.” Teicher named Smith the Chiefs’ biggest offseason surprise.
With Pacheco and Hunt grizzled veterans, Andy Reid has brought Smith along slowly, but he’s proven that the game isn’t too big for him and the snaps have increased. After last week’s game, Reid said, “I know offensively, Nags is just trying to increase Smith’s reps every week and putting him in positions where he can do some things. He seems to be handling it good.”
In 2022, Jerick McKinnon rushed 72 times for 291 yards and a touchdown while catching 56 of his 71 targets for 512 yards and nine touchdowns. That was with Pacheco rushing 170 times for 830 yards and five touchdowns. If Smith continues to impress, he could start to get more of the pass-catching duties while seeing his snaps increase into the 50% range.
Any running back tied to Patrick Mahomes is appealing. What if Smith jumps Pacheco and Hunt on the depth chart and gets the majority of the snaps? The probabilities may not be high for that scenario to play out, but it’s well within the range of outcomes. Smith could turn out to be a flash in the pan, but the upside is worth it.
Here’s food for thought. Reid had Jamaal Charles, Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy as running backs in his offenses. Charles was 5-foot-11 and 199 pounds. Westbrook was 5-foot-10 and 203 pounds, and McCoy was 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds. All three were excellent pass catchers. Now, the draft capital was in the second and third rounds for those three backs while Smith was a seventh-round pick, but the archetypes are similar.
