After winning Super Bowl LVII over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs are again the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in 2024. Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is a major reason why the Chiefs are considered the best team in the NFL, but this squad has plenty of young talent on both sides of the ball.
Take running back Isiah Pacheco for example. The seventh-round pick out of Rutgers was the 22nd running back selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he racked up 960 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns in his rookie season. He also rushed for 197 yards in three playoff games, which are the fourth-most postseason rushing yards recorded by a rookie drafted outside the top 100 in the Super Bowl era. Pacheco even scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Pacheco may be a star in the making, and this week, he appeared on the "All Things Covered" podcast with Bryant McFadden to discuss his rookie season among other topics. One interesting part of the podcast, that you can listen to below, was where Pacheco was asked to name the top five running backs that he's ever seen.
Here are the five running backs he listed:
- Barry Sanders: Sanders is, of course, one of the best running backs of all time. He rushed for at least 1,115 yards in all 10 of his NFL seasons, and was named an All-Pro in eight. Sanders became the third NFL player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season back in 1997, and even after retiring following the 1998 season, he is still the Detroit Lions' all-time leader in rushing attempts (3,062), rushing yards (15,269), rushing touchdowns (99) and rushing yards per game (99.8). Sanders is currently fourth on the NFL's all-time rushing list.
- Adrian Peterson: He may be 38 years old, but AP hasn't retired just yet! Peterson earned NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2012 when he became the seventh player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards. He led the NFL in rushing a total of three times, and in rushing touchdowns twice. He sits behind Sanders in fifth place on the all-time rushing list (14,918).
- LaDainian Tomlinson: The 2006 NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year was a six-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler. Tomlinson led the NFL in rushing yards twice, and rushing touchdowns thrice. He rushed for at least 10 touchdowns in all nine seasons with the Chargers, and is seventh all time in rushing yards (13,684) and second all time in rushing touchdowns (145).
- Saquon Barkley: The former No. 2 overall pick of the New York Giants in 2018 rushed for a career-high 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns in 16 games played last season. He accounted for 27.7% of the Giants' offense in 2022, which was the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Despite that, Barkley did not find the long-term lucrative deal he was after this offseason. However, Pacheco thinks he's on a Hall of Fame track.
- Isiah Pacheco: That's right, Pacheco named himself. He has some work to do to be considered one of the best running backs of all time, but he's confident he can get there.
"I'm gonna put myself in that category," Pacheco said. "I've been looking forward to those guys and watching their play. So just learning from the best and just allow myself to be put in the position to be the best."
