The Kansas City Chiefs lost yet another weapon early in the 2024 NFL season with Isiah Pacheco suffering a fractured fibula last time out. This means Andy Reid has to figure out who will be Patrick Mahomes‘ primary running back for the next few weeks.
Pacheco’s absence opens the door for fullback Carson Steele to climb on the Chiefs’ depth chart, but it looks like the 21-year-old’s help may not be reduced to the running game. According to the rookie, Mahomes can also trust in him when throwing the ball.
“I haven’t seen many pass catches coming into the games in the regular season. But I feel very comfortable with it,” Steele told reporters Wednesday, via Jared Sapp of SB Nation‘s Arrowhead Pride. “UCLA was a big pass-catching offense. I feel really comfortable about that — some running back routes [and] stuff like that. I try to get open as much as I can.”
After spending two seasons with Ball State, Steele transferred to UCLA in 2023. The Indiana native joined the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in the summer and has already seen action through the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season.
Even though he’s not expected to take on the same workload as Pacheco did before the injury, Steele made it clear to Mahomes and Reid that he can also carry the ball as much as needed: “I still have it in my roots. I’ve just got to get back to it.”
Steele lets Reid know he’d like to start alongside Mahomes for the Chiefs
Playing for the back-to-back Super Bowl champions didn’t seem to be on the cards for Steele when he went undrafted this year. With the opportunity of getting his first start for the Chiefs in sight, Steele let Reid know how much it would mean to him.
“It would mean everything, just coming from the Cinderella story being an undrafted guy. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m going to just keep taking the role I have — and get all the running backs some work in there. [We’ll do] whatever we can do to [give] the team success.”
Reid sends special message to Steele
Before the Chiefs brought back veteran running back Kareem Hunt, Reid showed nothing but confidence in the team’s currrent RB room. And the coach believes this situation could be a special opportunity especially for Steele.
“Yeah, well, he’s gonna have to step it up there and in that role, so, but I think he’s, he likes to be challenged, and I think this will be a good challenge for him,” said Reid. “He’s, obviously, gotta keep the ball high and tight. He had the fumble yesterday, and he doesn’t have a history of that, so he’s got to make sure he learns from that.”
Steele fumbled a ball late in the second quarter that allowed the Bengals to take a six-point lead at halftime, but still had a decent performance on Sunday with seven carries for 24 yards in short-yardage plays. Only time will tell us whether he gets to play a bigger role in Mahomes’ offense during the 2024 NFL season.