The Kansas City Chiefs need a running back, and fans are giving them all kinds of exciting options. There’s the free agent bunch, which has the Chiefs chasing big-play backs like Breece Hall and Kenneth Walker III. The draftniks are all over the Jerimayah Love possibility, with Kansas City selecting the Notre Dame running back with ninth pick in the draft.
Drafting Love sounds unlikely. The Chiefs just watched another team within their division, the Las Vegas Raiders, select running back Ashton Jeanty this season, and Jeanty didn’t give them much at all. Free agents like Hall and Walker are better possibilities, but the Chiefs have a lot of needs and not enough cap space to meet them all.
Forget about the in-hourse possibilities. Running back Isiah Pacheco is likely gone, and Kareem Hunt is strictly a short-yardage back at this point in his career. Brashard Smith had some moments, but as a running back he’s too small to carry a major workload.
Enter Nicholas Singleton from Penn State. He’s a polarizing prospect with good physical traits, but he’d give the Chiefs some size and a solid option if they do go the free-agent route. He’s also adding more speed and explosive ability for a team that clearly needs more playmakers.
Singleton has also been a red-zone threat at Penn State. He found the end zone 54 total times during his four year career, and while his production did dip last year when he became part of a committee with Kaytron Allen, Singleton averaged 5.6 yards per carry during his college career and caught 102 passes in those four seasons.
The reason Singleton is polarizing his due to his boom-or-bust running style. He’s made some long touchdown runs and posted some chunk plays, but Singleton occasionally misses cutback lanes and doesn’t always pick up available yardage.
But that’s exactly what makes him a late-round pick, and he’s a perfect gamble for a team like the Chiefs At 6’ 220 pounds, he brings the size Kansas City doesn’t have right now, and plenty of teams have found hidden gems with picks like this.
If he does underperform, he’d be easy to move on from, and the fifth pick is often a sweet spot for third-day running backs. Taking a flyer on him wouldn’t waste any draft capital, and landing a productive running back with this kind of pick is exactly the kind of move GM Brett Veach will be looking to pull off.