As the Kansas City Chiefs push through 2025 training camp, the reigning AFC powerhouse franchise is once again brimming with competition among young new faces and established stars. Yet in a camp full of hopefuls, it’s a seventh-round draft pick who is rapidly becoming one of the stories to watch. Brashard Smith, a dynamic weapon out of SMU whose early performance, versatility, and rapid learning have Chiefs coaches buzzing about his future in Kansas City.
Coming off another Super Bowl appearance, the Chiefs aren’t short on talent, especially at running back and receiver. But few new arrivals this offseason have drawn as much combined praise and intrigue as Brashard Smith.
According to SI.com, Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub has publicly stated his excitement over Smith’s progress, describing him as a player who “keeps getting better and better” and is showing natural skill as a punt returner. Reporter Nick Jacobs also notes that Smith, along with fellow rookie Jaylen Royals, has been working with the first team during install. This means the Chiefs coaches envision Smith as a player to integrate into their offensive completely.
Smith’s initial pathway to the field will be special teams, where the Chiefs have a long track record of developing players into eventual starters. The most prominent example is Tyreek Hill, who began his Chiefs career with returner work before becoming a full-fledged superstar. Smith is following a similar path, with coaches building his confidence in the return game and preparing him for bigger roles as he gets acclimated to the NFL.
With several veteran running backs and receivers ahead of him, Smith will “make his bones” on special teams. But the staff’s urgency to get him up to speed mentally with the playbook during install suggests their vision. Smith is being prepared to become an all-purpose threat who can be deployed in multiple ways.
The data supports this Chiefs strategy. The below chart compares Smith’s 2025 draft class profile against other mid-tier running back prospects such as Jarquez Hunter (Rams), Kaleb Johnson (Steelers), and Jaydon Blue (Cowboys). Remarkably, Smith stands out not just for his receiving abilities, as one might expect from his three years at Miami (where he played receiver before his 2024 SMU running back breakout), but also for his skill as a runner.
Whereas most running backs have to sacrifice one skillset to excel in another (as noted by Johnson’s and Hunter’s data on the chart), Smith is uniquely balanced. His rushing grade in his first full year at the position is on par with, or better than, his peers, while his receiving grade outpaces them all. That versatility is rare. Most running backs in his range are either pure runners with little passing-game ability or dedicated receiving threats at the backfield who lack in traditional running skills. Smith offers both, making him a unique matchup problem for defenses.
Smith’s presence is part of a larger, evolving Chiefs strategy. Instead of relying on a single superstar (as they did with Tyreek Hill in previous years), Kansas City is now amassing a stable of versatile, specialized skill players who can be mixed and matched to create confusion for defenses. Smith is likely positioned to be a “matchup nightmare” in this Chiefs system, modeled after past Andy Reid proteges like Brian Westbrook.
Defensive coordinators are now forced to prepare for multiple personnel groupings. The Chiefs can line up with Smith as a running back, then motion him out to receiver or place him in a five-wide formation. That flexibility means defenders must guess and adjust on the fly, giving Patrick Mahomes even more tools to exploit mismatches.
Brashard Smith’s camp emergence is evidence of the Chiefs’ continued ability to find and cultivate NFL-ready talent in the later rounds. His dynamic versatility, rare combination of rushing and receiving skills, and rapid development as a return specialist all point to a player who could soon become another late-round legend in Kansas City lore.
Disclaimer: The content of this article was originally published as a YouTube video on the Saturday Morning Inspection YouTube channel. With AI assistance, the publisher of the video created this article based on the content of that video.
