Patrick Mahomes: When Isiah Pacheco's ready, he'll be the Energizer Bunny everybody loves

Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco had his practice window opened last week, having been sidelined since suffering a fractured fibula in Week 2.

He could potentially return to play this weekend against the Panthers, which would surely provide a lift to the club's offense.

Head coach Andy Reid noted in his Wednesday press conference that the Chiefs have in some ways had to hold Pacheco back from advancing his recovery too far too quickly. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes expressed much of that same sentiment in his own Wednesday news conference.

“I think it’s going to be us trying to hold him back because he’s a guy that wants to be out there as much as possible and he wants to play, but at the same time he wants to win,” Mahomes said. “He knows the long-term goal that we have. Our goal is to get him back as quickly as possible but at the best time for him and his body so that we can have him for the long haul.

“Whenever that is, I know he’ll be ready, and he’ll be that Energizer Bunny that everybody loves to see.”

Pacheco rushed for 135 yards with a touchdown and caught seven passes for 54 yards in the season’s first two weeks before going down with his injury.