Lions announce unfortunate Isiah Pacheco roster move amid injury originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Detroit Lions traded away David Montgomery this offseason to the Houston Texans, fully handing the reins to the running back room to Jahmyr Gibbs.
To replace Montgomery, the Lions signed free agent, two-time Super Bowl champion Isiah Pacheco. He was slated to be the No. 2 back in Detroit, but now he's going to be on the sideline for a while.
As the Lions announced Tuesday afternoon, Pacheco landed on Injured Reserve shortly after 53-man rosters were finalized. He'll miss at least four weeks, leaving the Lions without their top backup RB.
Lions place Isiah Pacheco on IR amid back and knee issues"Lions announce roster moves: Placed RB Isiah Pacheco on Reseve/Injured. Signed TE Tyler Conklin to the Active Roster. Signed OG Elijah Klein and WR Dominic Lovett to the Practice Squad," the Lions announced.
Of these roster moves, the placement of Pacheco on Injured Reserve is obviously the most important. He's now forced to sit out four games and could miss even longer if his recovery takes some time.
Pacheco is a 27-year-old running back who's dealt with some injury issues in his career. He played in just seven games in 2024, and 13 games last season for the Chiefs.
He ran for 830 yards his rookie season, 935 yards his sophomore year, and just 310 in 2024, followed by 462 in 2025.
Losing Pacheco stings for the Lions, as their current backup options aren't exactly the kind of group they could trust if Gibbs were to get hurt.
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Now, with Pacheco out of the picture behind Gibbs, Jacob Saylors, Sione Vaki, and Jabari Small will become the running back depth in Detroit.
The bulk of the work will go to Gibbs, especially now that a trusted veteran is out of the picture. But Saylors is the one backup who's most likely to see actual work in 2026 while Pacheco is out.
Pacheco is now on IR and will miss at least through Week 4 of the NFL regular season. Gibbs will take the lion's share of the RB work, but after him it's likely Saylors getting the majority of the work.
This isn't an ideal situation for the Lions, and it will be one to follow along with closely as the season moves along. Running back might become a need for Detroit, enough to the point where they have to swing a trade.
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