The Kansas City Chiefs have scuffled to a 2-3 start to season after losing on Monday Night Football to the Jaguars. Kareem Hunt had a pair of rushing touchdowns as one of the few bright spots for the Chiefs’ offense, but can he be a reliable fantasy play going forward? He’s sharing time in the backfield with Isiah Pacheco, but neither back has been especially reliable. Are we starting to see that change, though?
After his breakout performance, how should you approach Hunt and the Chiefs backfield for both DFS and season-long fantasy football? Let’s break it down.
Is Pacheco pa-checked out?
In Week 2 of last season, Pacheco suffered a fractured fibula in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ win over the Bengals. While he was able to return later in the season, he lost his role as the team’s every-down back and has yet to regain control of the timeshare.
This season, Pacheco has only taken 39 carries in five games for 163 rushing yards, never getting more than 10 carries in a game. He does have nine receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown, but his snap share has been slipping as the season has gone on.
Last week against the Jags, he actually played a season-high 63% of snaps, but he only had seven carries for 37 yards and three catches for 20 yards. He’s barely a flex option right now, and he’s extremely touchdown dependent. He’s usually leaving the field on third down and near the goal line, where fantasy points are usually earned.
Hunt’s Recent Resurgence
Hunt has been getting that critical work near the goal line and on third down, and he has made the most of it with three rushing touchdowns in the last three weeks.
He had seven carries against the Jaguars, just like Pacheco, but he finished with more fantasy points since he had two touchdowns to go with his 49 rushing yards and eight receiving yards.
Hunt actually played a season-low 33% of snaps, though, which makes him tough to trust moving forward. Like Pacheco, he’s extremely touchdown-dependent, and the Chiefs will likely rely more on Patrick Mahomes and the passing game as the season goes on, with Rashee Rice returning after just one more week.
Hunt has played many third downs, but he isn’t quite as involved as a receiver as would be ideal. Mahomes relies on Travis Kelce and a wide variety of other receivers before looking for Hunt, so his usage in that facet of the game isn’t quite high enough to make an impact on his value.
The Bottom Line
In a tough matchup against the Lions defense on Sunday Night Football this week, I left both Pacheco and Hunt out of my top 30 RB rankings this week. I don’t see either as a “must-start” even at a flex spot, although both have enough upside to be desperation plays in deep leagues or if you have bye week trouble. The timeshare could offer value down the road if either seizes the full-time job, but for now, both are high-risk plays.
Since they don’t play until Sunday night, the Chiefs’ RBs are not in the main DFS slate, headlined by this week’s NFL $2.75M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st] on DraftKings. They are in the player pool for the NFL Showdown $1.2M Sunday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (DET @ KC) and can be flex plays with upside if they end up getting into the end zone. Hunt’s salary is $4,600 and Pacheco’s salary is $4,400 in a flex spot, showing that Hunt has been the slightly better of the two fantasy options lately because of his goal line work.
