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ATLANTA — As an undrafted rookie running back pressed into his first NFL start next to Patrick Mahomes in a national prime-time game, Carson Steele had many reasons to be nervous Sunday night.
But one was certainly unique, even sweet: What, he worried, if his football success distracted his family and friends from his sister Kesslar’s wedding back home in Indiana?
Carson’s big day — 17 carries for 72 yards in the Chiefs’ hard-fought 22-17 win over the Falcons — was also her big day. The date was set last year, long before her brother knew he’d have a work conflict in the NFL. It was one thing to miss his older sister’s wedding, but another to inadvertently upstage it.
“I told her, ‘If too many people are watching the game, go ahead and turn that TV off,’” Steele said. “She was all for it. She got into it as well.”
Steele, 21, has a larger-than-life persona — his long hair and freakish weight-room prowess earned him nicknames like “Fabio” and “War Horse” in college. He rushed for 1,556 yards and 14 touchdowns as a Ball State sophomore, then transferred to UCLA last year and rushed for another 847 yards and six scores. A slow 40 time — 4.77 seconds — kept him from getting drafted, and he overcame the odds just to make the cut with the Chiefs.
Why was Steele in such a large role on Sunday night? That goes back to the “in sickness and in health” part with the Chiefs: Clyde Edwards-Helaire was already on the non-football illness list, and starter Isiah Pacheco broke his leg in last week’s win against the Bengals, sidelining him for at least six weeks.
That left Steele, who’d made the Chiefs’ 53-man roster largely as a special-teams player, veteran Samaje Perine and third-year back Keaontay Ingram. Steele knew he’d have a larger role, but he didn’t know just how big a part of the Chiefs offense he would be.
Steele and Perine each had six carries in the first half — Steele rushing for 26 yards, Perine for 25 — but in the second half, trailing the…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/chiefs-carson-steele-shines-first-start-family-watches-from-sisters-wedding
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Publish date : 2024-09-23 13:50:09
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