The Kansas City Chiefs are bringing back veteran running back Jerick McKinnon for 2023, signing the versatile offensive weapon to a one-year deal, while declining a fifth-year option on fellow running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
McKinnon, who turns 31 years old this week, turned into a key contributor to the 2022 championship season in Kansas City, with 291 yards and a touchdown rushing, and 56 catches that included nine scores.
With McKinnon back in, the oft-injured Edwards-Helaire is out, as the 2020 first-round pick has been unable to shake the injury bug that included a high ankle sprain. He came off injured reserve for the Chiefs Super Bowl appearance against the Philadelphia Eagles, but was left inactive for the game.
Fellow running back Isaiah Pacheco, who seized the starting running back position in his rookie season out of Rutgers, has seen the surgical knive twice since the Super Bowl win over Philadelphia. Pacheco broke a bone between his wrist and thumb in the AFC Championship Game, yet played in the Super Bowl two weeks later, rushing 15 times for 76 yards and a touchdown. He had surgery to repair a break a week after the Super Bowl win.
For much of the regular season and playoffs, Pacheco played with a torn labrum. That injury had him undergoing surgery two weeks after the Super Bowl from Dr. David Altchek in New York City.
Pacheco finished his rookie season with five touchdowns on the ground, with 830 yards on 170 carries.
Kansas City, coming out of the draft, added veteran talent to its offensive line, signing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive tackle Donovan Smith to a one-year, $9 million contract. Smith should slot into the opening at left tackle left by the departure of Orlando Brown Jr. to the Bengals in free agency. That move will keep free agent signee Jawaan Taylor to the right tackle position, a more natural fit for the former Jacksonville Jaguar.
Smith had been released by Tampa Bay in a cost-cutting move in March, after struggling in the 2022 season after an elbow hyperextension in the Buccaneers season opener against Dallas. He missed four games with injuries. He entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the Bucs in 2015.
