Isiah Pacheco Week 1 Outlook - Ravens at Chiefs

By Derek Brown (FantasyPros), Wed, Sep 4th 2024, 8:38pm EDT

The Chiefs saw all they needed to last year with Pacheco as their workhorse back, so they let Jerick McKinnon walk in the offseason, which should fuel Pacheco as a weekly 65-70% snap player. In the four games he played without McKinnon active, Pachecho averaged 20.2 touches and 100.7 total yards. He was Kansas City's workhorse, as he played at least 70% of the snaps in three of those four games. Overall, last year, he ranked 12th in explosive run rate and 26th in yards after contact per attempt. Among 48 qualifying backs, he also ranked 28th in yards per route run. At first glance, Baltimore looks like a defense to avoid for fantasy rushers, but there's a lot to like here for Pacheco. While the Ravens held backs to the eighth-fewest fantasy points per game that was mostly fueled by allowing the fewest rushing touchdowns in the NFL. Deeper metrics scream they are a more advantageous matchup, as they allowed the 13th-highest explosive run rate and the eighth-highest missed tackles per attempt. Start Pacheco as an RB1/2.