Running back Isiah Pacheco is known for his aggressive style, often described as someone who runs as if he’s angry at the ground.
After completing his rookie contract with the Chiefs, Pacheco signed a one-year deal with the Lions in free agency. Though Pacheco has been a starter for much of his career, helping Kansas City win back-to-back Super Bowls in 2022 and 2023, he’s now set to slot behind Jahmyr Gibbs in Detroit. Effectively, Pacheco is replacing David Montgomery, who was traded to the Texans earlier in the offseason.
With the way the Lions want to run the ball, Pacheco should still be a key piece of Detroit’s offense in 2026.
In a recent interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Lions General Manager Brad Holmes noted that he and head coach Dan Campbell have always been aligned on needing two good backs to have a truly effective run game.
“Getting Pacheco, me and Dan have always been big fans of Pacheco,” Holmes said. “It’s his mindset and his intent in how he runs. As you know, it’s hard to get yards in this league, and those holes close up quick. And so, if you have the right mindset, you can get a lot of hidden yards — if you just have a little bit more desire.
“So, I think he’s going to be a really good complement. Always been a fan from afar, just love how he runs [since] he’s been in the league. And we don’t expect anything different to being a really good complement to Jahmyr.”
Pacheco has dealt with injuries the last two years, limited to 20 games over that span. In 2025, he rushed for 462 yards with one touchdown and caught 19 passes for 101 yards.
Pacheco’s best season was his second, as in 2023 he rushed for 935 yards with seven touchdowns and caught 44 passes for 2244 yards with two TDs.
Chiefs Clips
The first Monday Night Football game of the season will feature a matchup of the last two AFC West champions.
The NFL announced on Tuesday that the Broncos and Chiefs will meet to cap off the Week 1 schedule. The location of the game is still being finalized, per Adam Schefter of ESPN, and is expected to be announced ahead of or along with the announcement of the rest of the schedule on Thursday.
Denver broke the Chiefs’ long run of division titles last season and the game will likely feature the return to action of Broncos quarterback Bo Nix after he broke his ankle in the divisional round of the playoffs. It could also see Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes play his first game since tearing his ACL last December, but we’ll have to be much closer to the game to know if that will be the case.
The Chiefs are also the fifth of the Seahawks’ potential Week 1 opponents — the 49ers, Rams, Giants and Cowboys are the others — to have their opening game revealed, which leaves the Cardinals, Chargers, Bears and Patriots as the remaining options for the first game of the 2026 NFL season.
The Bills are starting the week by adding a veteran defender.
Buffalo announced on Monday that the club has signed outside linebacker Mike Danna to a one-year deal.
Danna, 28, was released by the Chiefs in February after spending his first six seasons with the franchise. In 2025, Danna appeared in 15 games with 14 starts, recording 25 total tackles, three tackles for loss, four QB hits, a sack, and an interception.
A fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, Danna has appeared in 87 games with 49 starts, recording 21.5 sacks, 25 tackles for loss, and 51 QB hits.
He is a two-time Super Bowl champion, having won back-to-back rings with Kansas City in 2022 and 2023.
The District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, has dismissed the case against Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt.
“The DA’s office looked at it a little more thoroughly and reviewed some additional information,” Merritt’s attorney, Ryan Ginie, told Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, “and agreed it was a matter that should be dismissed.”
Merritt was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery on April 22, accused of causing bodily harm to a daughter.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said last weekend that the team was waiting on the case to conclude.
“Dave’s been very up front with everything,” Reid said, via Ron Kopp of arrowheadpride.com. “We’re still going through that whole procedure. In this case, you always let the law enforcement part take care of itself and work its way out. And so that’s where we’re at right now, but we’re aware, and we’ve had communication with both sides there, with the law enforcement side and Dave.”
Merritt, 54, has served as the Chiefs’ defensive backs coach since 2019. He has previously held NFL coaching jobs with the Cardinals, Giants and Jets.
The Bills spent some time with a potential addition to their defensive line recently.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that free agent defensive end Mike Danna visited the team. It’s the first reported visit for Danna since the Chiefs released him in February.
Danna was a 2020 fifth-round pick by Kansas City and he appeared in 87 regular season games for the team over that time. Danna had 194 tackles, 21.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and an interception in that action.
Danna also played 16 postseason games for the Chiefs, including four Super Bowls. He had 27 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble while winning a pair of Super Bowl rings.
Free-agent receiver Tyreek Hill’s current status is complicated primarily by his ongoing recovery from a serious knee injury suffered in September 2025. A pending Personal Conduct Policy investigation further clouds his NFL future.
The situation at the heart of the pending matter could cloud it even more.
TMZ reports that Hill’s estranged wife, Keeta, is attempting through the couple’s divorce action to secure evidence of past incidents of alleged domestic violence involving Hill. Among other things, she has targeted the 2019 incident that prompted a league investigation — and that resulted in Hill voluntarily staying away from the Chiefs’ offseason program.
In early 2019, Hill’s three-year-old son suffered a broken arm. The case was initially closed quickly. Later, it was reopened. In June 2019, Hill met with NFL investigators for eight hours.
Hill was not charged in the case, and the NFL did not suspend him. Keeta Hill wants evidence from both the authorities and from the NFL about the 2019 case.
Keeta Hill has made multiple allegations of domestic violence against Hill in the divorce action. The NFL has an open investigation against Hill regarding those claims.
When Travis Kelce signed a new contract with the Chiefs in early March, it put an end to league-wide speculation about whether he’d return for a 14th season.
It wasn’t quite as dramatic a moment for the Chiefs, however. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show this week, Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach discussed the timeline for Kelce’s decision and revealed that it was made a lot earlier than anyone outside the organization would have guessed.
“We played our last game of the season in Vegas last year, and when we got back we have player meetings and exit interviews,” Veach said. “It was a cool deal where Trav came in and he basically said ‘I’m going to take a few weeks off here, but I’m not going out like this, let’s stay in touch and let’s figure something out. . . . We certainly knew ahead of time. While free agency and there was still some questions in the air on whether or not he’d return, we knew basically the day after our last game. He made it known to coach Reid and to me that there was no way he was going out like this.”
Veach said he wasn’t going to speculate about whether this will be Kelce’s “last dance,” but said he thought being there as quarterback Patrick Mahomes rehabs from a torn ACL is important to Kelce and that the duo is motivated to make sure that last season is a blip in an otherwise wildly successful run in Kansas City.
Kurt Warner went from going undrafted to playing quarterback in the NFL and his son is trying to follow the same path.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that E.J. Warner has accepted an invitation to participate in the Broncos’ rookie minicamp as a tryout player this weekend. Warner was at the Chiefs’ minicamp last weekend for the same purpose.
Warner started 10 games at Fresno State last season and went 192-of-277 for 2,030 yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was Rice’s starter for the 2024 season and spent two seasons as the starter at Temple to kick off his college time.
Warner’s father famously worked in a grocery store and played in the Arena League and NFL Europe before getting his chance to start for the Rams in 1999. He won the MVP and the Super Bowl that season, which makes for a tough act to repeat so his son will likely just be focused on earning a spot on a roster or practice squad to start his own career.
After agreeing to sign D.J. Reader, the Giants have also added another defensive tackle to their roster.
New York has claimed Zacch Pickens off of waivers, according to the league’s daily transaction wire.
The Chiefs let Pickens go on Monday.
Pickens, 26, appeared in three games for Kansas City last season. He recorded five total tackles.
A Bears third-round pick in 2023, Pickens appeared in 26 games for Chicago over his first two seasons. He’s recorded 44 total tackles with two tackles for loss, four QB hits, and 1.5 sacks in his career.
The Chiefs have signed a draft pick.
The NFL’s transaction report for Monday shows that the team signed running back Emmett Johnson. The fifth-round pick agreed to a four-year contract.
Johnson earned some praise from head coach Andy Reid for his work in last weekend’s rookie minicamp. Reid spoke highly of Johnson’s ability as a receiver and pass blocker while saying that the rookie has “a little bit” of LeSean McCoy to his game.
The Chiefs drafted Johnson after he spent the last four years at Nebraska. He led the top division of college football in all-purpose yards per game in 2025 while finishing fourth with 1,451 rushing yards.
