So far in the SportsEthos Fantasy Football Guide, we have covered rankings, strategies, angles, edges, sleepers and busts, but still there’s always a few players who get overlooked or don’t fall into one particular category.  I’m going to rectify that issue and highlight some of the players to target this season for fantasy who haven’t gotten much sunlight in our draft guide.

Isaiah Pacheco, RB – Kansas City Chiefs

Pacheco was my favorite target last season and anytime you can get a core piece of one of the most prolific offenses in the league, it’s usually a smart move.  He finished as the RB15 in PPR leagues and was solid, if not spectacular.   The problem was volume because when you have the best QB in the league, you want the ball in his hands.  The Chiefs were second with a 67% pass rate and first with a 6.7 PROE (pass rate over expectation).  He will still be the primary RB for the Chiefs, but they also added Hollywood Brown, drafted Xavier Worthy and in theory might have Rashee Rice for the entire season.

Last season Pacheco was going at a discount, going around the RB25 and now he’s going as the 25^th player overall.  The real issue is whether Pacheco has another gear to his game and while his baseline stats are good, 4.7 YPC, nine total TDs and 44 receptions, he will need to keep growing in order to meet his ADP.  The Chiefs return a top-10 offensive line and while the run/pass splits aren’t going to change, maybe they could get more balanced inside the red zone.  Last season the Chiefs ran 209 plays inside the red zone and 84 were rushes and 123 were passes.  Inside the 10, they ran 121 plays, with 46 rushes and 73 passes.  While the play split was about 1.5/1, the TDs were 34-16 (pass/rush) in the red zone and 29-13 (pass/rush) inside the 10.  Pacheco would need to become a little more efficient in goal-to-go situations and the Chiefs would need to trust him more instead of letting Patrick Mahomes do what he does best.  I could see the TDs getting a little more even, but nothing drastic and it seems like at 25^th overall, people are drafting Pacheco at his ceiling which leaves nowhere to go but down.

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