Is Jerick McKinnon the best RB on the Chiefs right now? | Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast
Yahoo Sports' Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski discuss Kansas City's backfield, including why fantasy managers should play Jerick McKinnon over Isiah Pacheco in week 16.
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MATT HARMON: We might finally have an answer. We're always searching for an answer on the Chiefs backfield. We might finally have one.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Yeah, you know, I don't want to come down too hard on Isaiah Pacheco, who ran well. He ran hard. Nobody runs harder for a 7-yard gain than Pacheco. Lost the fumble in this game, but he still got 16 touches. But here's the thing, Jerick McKinnon, 10 for 52 in the walk off touchdown overtime. He gets 8 for 70, another touchdown in the passing game. He catches a 2-point conversion. He's used on third down. I saw him at least once pick up a great block on third down, pick up a blitzer. Mahomes was only sacked a couple of times in this game, did not turn the ball over.
I could not figure out how this game gets to overtime when the Chiefs, with overtime, they wind up with over 500 yards, and Houston didn't even make it to 300. There was only a one turnover differential. So I don't know how Houston cosmetically kept this game close. I don't think they played all that well. I think they did actually play pretty well in the Dallas game. I think they could have easily beat Cleveland the week before. But this felt like-- again, you coined that great phrase of the Chiefs playing with their food. Maybe there's an element of that in this game.
But here's the bottom line, Jerick McKinnon, until week 13, did not have a double digit fantasy point game this season. And then week 13, he puts up a decent score, like 11 or 12 points. Last week, he was running back one, not one of the running back ones, he was running back numero uno, 28 or so points. And this week, he gets into the 30 point club. And he's the guy-- Pacheco's going to have a role, for sure. But McKinnon, it's a two-man backfield.
Mahomes only runs when he kind of needs to. He's not a proactive runner. I mean, he did a rushing touchdown this game, but you're not worried about Mahomes taking a lot of the plate. And next week, they play Seattle, who's a given. And I know people are going to say, well, what if the game gets out of hand? And is it more of a game script that favors Pacheco? We might've said that before this game, and it ended up being McKinnon who was more of the circle of trust guy. I think they're both playable against Seattle. You would like somebody better than Denver in championship week, but we'll worry about that when we come to it.
But 30 in a year where the Chiefs, obviously, they spent a lot of draft capital on Edwards-Helaire. He's out of the mix now. Pacheco was the hot guy for a minute, and he did OK here. I mean, he's still going to be somebody I'm going to rank as a running back two. But who would have thought the 30-year-old Jerick McKinnon would be somebody who I think anybody who rosters him next week, unless you're blessed with royalty at the running back position, you're going to have to start him against Seattle. And I think he has 15 touches in his back pocket.
MATT HARMON: Your brain might still be wanting to pigeonhole Jerick McKinnon as like a third down scat back-type because that's kind of how he was used earlier in the season. But that's not the case at all. Like, if anyone's pigeonholed in this backfield, it's Isaiah Pacheco, who is only used on first and second down. And they don't give him any-- like, he's kind of stuck in that dreaded empty calories carry role for fantasy football, where he gets some work around the goal line and in short yardage, but he doesn't have a stranglehold on the short yardage and goal line work because they still use McKinnon there.
He doesn't get used in passing downs. So he's sort of just between the 20s. Like, he's those type of-- he's those type of carries. And yeah, you're right, he's good. I mean, Pacheco takes his 15 carries for 86 yards. Like, he pops every time you see him run. But it's just the role that McKinnon has is much more valuable. 10 of his-- all 10 of his carries came on early downs, first or second down. Six of his eight targets came on first or second down. And like you said, we know he's a factor on third down because they trust him.
And [INAUDIBLE] Podcast and I were talking about this earlier, and he made the point that this is the way they used Jerick McKinnon in the playoffs last year. And I would say, yes, that's true. But also, I think McKinnon just-- doesn't he just look really good this year? He looks better. He looks like the guy that we all got excited about when he signed in San Francisco because he was that athletic backup to Dalvin Cook in Minnesota. And now he's sort of fully spreading his wings in an obviously great situation.