Former Bruins' Future Bleak Ahead of NFL Training Camp

After having a storied 2024 NFL season with the Kansas City Chiefs, former UCLA running back Carson Steele's future on an NFL roster is looking bleak ahead of training camp.

Steele's current predicament is not entirely a fault of his own, though. Chiefs acquisitions in the offseason and the return of a star running back leaves the UCLA product fighting for his football career, just like he did when he went undrafted out of Westwood.

Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco is returning from a fractured fibula and is focused on getting back to form ahead of the 2025 season and reclaim his spot as Kansas City's top rusher.

Kansas City also re-signed Kareem Hunt, signed former San Francisco 49ers back Elijah Mitchell, and selected SMU's Brashard Smith in the seventh round of this year's NFL Draft.

Needless to say, Steele is going to have to work even harder to stay on the Chiefs' roster than he had to to make it out of training camp last season.

Steele finished his rookie season in Arrowhead with 183 yards on 56 carries. His most notable game came in week three against the Atlanta Falcons where he rushed for 72 yards on 17 rush attempts. A game the Chiefs won 22-17.

It's not an understatement to say that Steele is hanging on the fringes of an NFL roster, especially one of Kansas City's prestige.

However, Steele has a reputation for working hard, especially as an underdog. He had to fight his way onto the then-defending champion's 53-man roster after going undrafted in 2024. He won't go down without a fight.

After transferring from Ball State and signing with UCLA in 2023, Steele played 12 games with the Bruins and finished with six rushing touchdowns and 847 rushing yards on 167 carries, equating to 5.1 yards per carry. His total rushing yards and average rushing yards per game of 70.6 each ranked sixth in the Pac-12. He also added on 163 receiving yards for two receiving touchdowns on 17 receptions.

Steele's football fate will be tested once NFL training camp gets fully underway. In the meantime, he's got to battle with four other battle-tested backs to avoid being the one squeezed out once the season starts.