Kansas City Chiefs rookie RB Isiah Pacheco now has six consecutive starts under his belt. With each game, he’s been able to get more comfortable with his responsibilities within the offense, leading to plenty of on-field success for the rookie.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy gave an update on the improvement that Pacheco has made so far this season.
“I think he’s done a good job of progressing each and every week,” Bieniemy explained. “Every week he does something a little bit different. Obviously, what’s showing up on tape is that he’s running extremely hard. He’s doing a heck of a job moving the chains. We just got to continue to build and grow with him.”
Pacheco notably fumbled in Week 10 against the Jaguars, which appeared to be a positive turning point for the rookie. What has most enabled Pacheco to carve out this role on offense and see such success since that error? According to Bieniemy, it’s his ability to take coaching and improve from it.
“I’ll say this and it sounds simple, he takes coaching,” Bieniemy said. “He listens. Ok? One thing in this industry, the only way you’re going to learn to improve is to go out there and make a mistake. Sometimes the best thing that you can do is make a mistake. And so, by him having his ‘failures’ when presented, he’s maximizing, made the most of it because he’s learned from what not to do.”
Pacheco credits his parents and leadership experience for coachability. He was a team captain all four years at Vineland South High School and went on to be a team captain in college at Rutgers. While his football upbringing plays a role, there’s also something to be said about how he learns and studies the game with a detail-oriented approach.
“You know just taking those little things, those points from the game,” Pacheco explained. “Just detailing points of the game where I felt as though I could’ve been better or I could’ve chipped this guy or gotten to the flat better, so just taking the details and pinning them down in the classroom, well upstairs in the meeting rooms, and then when I come into practice being able to execute it.”
Recently, those details have allowed Pacheco to find some success in the red zone, with back-to-back games with touchdowns in that area of the field. He wouldn’t credit his success in the red zone to anything specific, but he labeled it more as a microcosm of his approach to the game.
“For me, whenever my number’s called, I’m ready to roll,” Pacheco said. “(It) doesn’t matter where we’re at on the field. As long as we’re on the same page, and we’re all on the same mission, we can get the goal accomplished.”
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