Chiefs’ Carson Steele ‘ready as he could possibly be’ with Isiah Pacheco out, OC says

Kansas City offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was effusive in his praise for running back Carson Steele during training camp, and the sentiment continued Thursday when Nagy spoke about the rookie taking on a bigger role Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

Steele, 21, appears to be next in line for the Chiefs’ backfield after Isiah Pacheco was placed on injured reserve this week with a broken fibula.

“I would say there’s a lot of confidence with him,” Nagy said of Steele during Thursday’s weekly news conference with reporters. “The best way to put it is, he’s probably as ready as he could possibly be for being a young rookie player in this position for this team. So we’re excited about that.”

Nagy was quick to compliment Steele during training camp. At the time, the undrafted rookie out of UCLA seemed like a long shot to make the team.

After a standout first preseason game against Jacksonville, though, Steele had his first- and second-team reps increase in mid-August.

At that time, Nagy lauded Steele by saying, “He’s doing a lot of good things and being in the right spot at the right time, and you can trust him.”

Nagy used similar words when talking about Steele on Thursday.

“He’s had a phenomenal attitude,” Nagy said, “and we have a lot of trust in him.”

Steele is coming off an unsteady performance. He lost a fumble in the second quarter Sunday against the Bengals — a development he said was difficult to get past on the sideline before teammates picked him up.

“He’s going to learn from it,” Chiefs running backs coach Todd Pinkston said. “He just knows we’ve got to protect the ball and move on from it. He can’t get down on himself about it. He’s learning — it’s a learning curve for him. And hopefully, he won’t make that mistake anymore.”

Steele’s running ability still was apparent in the preseason. He carried it 11 times for 87 yards, receiving Pro Football Focus’ third-highest run grade in that period while also tying for fourth among all rushers with nine missed tackles forced.

Other signs point to the Chiefs giving Steele extended carries Sunday.

Special teams coordinator Dave Toub said the team would likely remove Steele from his usual duty as kickoff returner while putting receivers Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman back deep. The idea would be to keep Steele fresh for a more significant offensive role.

“I go to walk-through every day, and I see who’s getting reps (on offense) and stuff like that, so I can set up my (special teams) roster,” Toub said. “And it could — it could be a situation where we don’t give Steele as many on that.”

Nagy also seemed to confirm it will take some time for new addition Kareem Hunt to integrate himself after signing with the Chiefs’ practice squad this week. When asked about Hunt’s football shape, Nagy said, “I think he looks good” before following with, “For him, there’s a lot that goes to it.”

He elaborated on that final point.

“For his situation, just relearning the offense and getting back into the sync of the physical parts with the reps,” Nagy said. “But there’s going to be a little bit of time that goes with it.”

The Chiefs have running backs Steele, Samaje Perine and Keaontay Ingram on their active roster after elevating Ingram from the practice squad earlier this week.

Nagy said the objective for the Chiefs’ coaches Sunday would be putting their running backs in optimal situations while not asking them to do too much.

“And understand, too, that it’s a little new to these guys, and that’s OK. We just help them through the process,” Nagy said. “But also, there’s a lot of excitement for them, too.”