THE PACHECO CARD
Team Captain, 2021
Academic All-Big Ten, 2021
All Big Ten Honorable Mentions, 2021
Seventh round pick, No. 251 overall, 2022 NFL Draft
Isiah Pacheco has been flying so far under the radar you wonder if even the geniuses at NASA have ever heard of the former Rutgers running back. Even today, if one does a Google search for Pacheco, he doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page.
When the NFL Draft was held, Pacheco was the 251st player selected, 11 away from being Mr. Irrelevant, the last played picked.
Had Pacheco not run a 4.27 in the NFL Combine, the fastest time by a running back, Pacheco might be playing in Calgary for the Roughriders. But the Kansas City Chiefs, who have an offensive genius for a coach named Andy Reid, knows speed kills.
What’s a 7th-round pick among friends?
Pacheco wasted little time confirming Reid’s genius status. He ran for 62 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries (5.2 yards) in the season opener. How much Pacheco gets used as a rookie remains to be seen. But this could be the first chapter in a great story.
Pacheco is a New Jersey native who played all four seasons at The State University of New Jersey. He rushed for almost 2,500 yards and another 47 receptions for 249 yards. But he never had a 1,000 yards season rushing and receiving and the Scarlet Knights struggled through losing seasons.
The 5-foot-11, 215-pound back is far from being a household name but at this rate he could make Chiefs fans forget about former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has not lived up to expectations.
Who knows, Pacheco might even get his own Wiki page one day.