Late in the Kansas City Chiefs‘ dramatic win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Chiefs starting running back Isiah Pacheco left the field in bad shape. On Monday morning, it was reported that Pacheco has a fractured fibula and is set to miss multiple weeks.
With a void at running back in one of the league’s top offenses, fantasy managers need to be looking at rookie backup Carson Steele.
Let’s talk about whether he might be worth an add for your fantasy football squad.
Should Carson Steele Be Added on the Fantasy Waiver Wire in Week 3?
The next couple of games for the Chiefs will be played against the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers, so Kansas City should be favored in both.
That means that there should be plenty of rushing in the game script, making Steele a potentially significant piece of the offense while Pacheco is out.
MORE: How Long Will Isiah Pacheco Be Out? Latest Injury Update
With that being said, Steele isn’t the only back on the Kansas City roster other than Pacheco. In fact, veteran Samaje Perine is listed ahead of Steele on the unofficial depth chart, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell that from the game against the Bengals.
Steele carried the ball seven times for 24 yards, while Perine didn’t get any rushes, although he was more involved in the air game than was Steele. In Week 1, Steele only ran the ball twice, but Perine didn’t have a carry then either.
The undrafted rookie Carson Steele really ran right over everybody 😳
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS/Paramount
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/nU5IRfTl5F— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024
However, there is reason to believe that Perine could be more involved going forward.
There’s a chance that his low level of involvement was due, in part, to the fact that he had only joined the team a couple of weeks earlier, while Steele had a full offseason to acclimate to the Kansas City offense. Now that he’s gone through a couple of game weeks of practice and preparation, the Chiefs could be more comfortable giving Perine a significant workload.
MORE: Samaje Perine Fantasy Waiver Wire Outlook
Of course, it’s not too likely that their roles would flip to such a degree that Steele wouldn’t get any touches while Pacheco is out. There shouldn’t be any concerns with Steele’s ability to shoulder a heavy load of carries, as he ran the ball 289 times in 2022 at Ball State and another 167 last year at UCLA.
Of course, the NFL is a different level of play, but in terms of absorbing lots of carries, Steele has plenty of experience.
Ultimately, it’s not clear that Steele will be receiving a huge amount of volume, so don’t rush to drop productive players to pick him up, especially before we know more about how long Pacheco will be out.
However, if Pacheco is on your team, or if you’re missing a running back due to a separate injury, consider placing a waiver claim for Steele.