The Kansas City Chiefs‘ run game last season with Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt left a lot to be desired.

Averaging just 101.2 yards per game (ranked 26th), Patrick Mahomes didn’t get much help from the ground, although Hunt was good at picking up the tough yards, but there was no threat of a breakaway out of the backfield.

That might change now with the addition of running back Elijah Mitchell, who has speed to burn, but is coming off an injury that kept him out of the 2024 season.

For NFL Network’s Steve Wyche, he thinks that Mitchell, if he can stay healthy, could be the difference-maker in the backfield the Chiefs have been looking for.

“The Chiefs’ running game has to step up,” Wyche said. “I think a player to look out for is Elijah Mitchell, who has not been able to stay healthy, but he was killing it before the first knee issue. This is somebody, the competition in the running back room and he stays healthy, I think he can make it very interesting because running back, they need explosive play.”

Mitchell, in his rookie season, showed what kind of talent he has, rushing for 963 yards and five touchdowns for the San Francisco 49ers in 2021, but injuries have since derailed his progress and that led to Christian McCaffrey signing with the NFC West team with just 16 games played in the last two seasons for Mitchell.

Now a Chief, he will hopefully bring a speed element to the run game, and that is something the offense has missed in the past couple of seasons. Hunt and Pacheco are servicable backs, but they don’t possess the home-run threat that Mitchell does.

Of course, as Wyche mentioned, health will play a major role in how effective Mitchell can be. But if, and that’s a big if, he can avoid the treatment room, he might just be the ace up Andy Reid’s sleeve in 2025.