BenFred: Hey Chiefs, do yourself a favor and swing a trade for Cody Schrader
The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs could have a significant problem, and we're not just talking about the number of fans in Arrowhead Stadium missing critical plays because they are too busy trying to spot Taylor Swift in a suite.
The human woodchipper Isiah Pacheco, the Chiefs' little engine that could of a running back, is hurt. It's significant. He's out six to eight weeks with a fractured fibula. Ouch. It's time to find out if the Chiefs came up with a good enough temporary answer until he returns. Skepticism seems valid at the moment.
Let's review the options:
Undrafted rookie fullback Carson Steele, who coughed up a fumble in his most recent game, could start in Pacheco's place.
Or there's veteran Samaje Perine, who was signed after the Broncos released him last month. That he could be playing second fiddle to Steele says quite a bit, doesn't it?
Or there's Kareem Hunt, who didn't have any team until the Chiefs just brought him back to their practice squad. He averaged a career-worst 3 yards per carry for the Browns last season and was deemed by advanced analytics as one of the worst performing running backs in the league.
You remember Hunt. He's the one-time Pro Bowler the Chiefs cut ties with in 2018 after video surfaced of him attacking a woman, something he lied to the team about doing. How bad was Hunt last season? No team had him for training camp this preseason.
Or, maybe later, there could be Clyde Edwards-Helaire. But he's out for now due to his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. Keaontay Ingram was promoted from the practice squad, so maybe he emerges.
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. See what I mean?
So here's a free idea for the NFL team across the state: drop the feel-bad story of Hunt's reunion and create a feel-good one instead. Run back a successful play. Call upon a Missouri Tiger.
From Chiefs head coach Andy Reid's previous stint as a Missouri offensive line coach, to the rise of former Mizzou stalwart turned Chiefs steadfast linebacker Nick Bolton, the Chiefs and their home-state school have had plenty of crossover success. Why not write a new chapter? Cody Schrader would be a perfect fit for the Chiefs right here, right now.
It's borderline criminal that the Southeastern Conference's lead rusher from last season is wasting away on the depth chart of the NFL team that abandoned his hometown.
The going-nowhere Los Angeles Rams, already 0-2, have made the 2023 top 10 Heisman Trophy finisher inactive in both of their losses, preferring instead to prioritize St. Louisan Kyren Williams and other backs. Schrader isn't even being used in special teams. It's a waste.
The NFL rumor mill already is humming about the possibility of the Rams punting on their season and trading quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Miami Dolphins, who were not well prepared to cover the concussion-caused absence of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
The Chiefs acquiring Schrader wouldn't generate blockbuster headlines like Stafford speculation or cost the Chiefs nearly as much as the Dolphins would have to give up to kick-start a Rams rebuild, but what a trade for Schrader could do is give the Chiefs a boost until Pacheco returns. And maybe after, too.
There isn't a team that is worse off with Schrader on it. He can help in too many different ways. His quiet preseason with the 49ers shouldn't be taken as a referendum on what he can do in the NFL. We're still talking about a back who blasted some of college football's best defenses for 14 touchdowns and more than 1,800 all-purpose yards last season.
Schrader has some Pacheco in him. They're about the same size. He's not quite as fast, but he's just as fierce. And he is faster than Steele, per the 40-yard dashes both posted as draft hopefuls. Schrader definitely is faster than the 29-year-old version of Hunt, who has become one of the league's slowest backs.
Schrader also is a willing and capable blocker, a nimble pass catcher out of the backfield and a quick study who has now been interesting enough to two of the NFL's lead thinkers in offense, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Rams coach Sean McVay, to want to see more of him. Their teams have multiple set producers at Schrader's position, though. The Chiefs? Not anymore.
Someone at Arrowhead should make a call to Mizzou running backs coach Curtis Luper and inquire about the back watching a season go by in Los Angeles. They will love what they hear.
If Schrader can't get a shot in the NFL, he can always come back home and star for the St. Louis Battlehawks. They have his United Football League rights thanks to their wise move of drafting him in July. No offense to the B-Hawks faithful reading this, but he'd look better helping out the Chiefs, and it would be better for his career, too.
And make no mistake, he could help.
Sports columnist
