Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire has had a rough start to his NFL career. After getting drafted by the club in 2020 and dealing with strict regulations because of the COVID pandemic that swept the nation, CEH had high expectations as a rookie and struggled to reach those due to injuries derailing each of his first three seasons.
Along the way, Edwards-Helaire lost his starting job to Isiah Pacheco and got his fifth-year option declined by the Chiefs last offseason. Despite having the fans and (seemingly) the team’s front office giving up on him, CEH spoke with reporters after the Chiefs’ Week 15 victory over the New England Patriots about his mindset through all the adversity he’s faced as a pro.
“You can say always stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,” Edwards-Helaire explained. “But it was more of just realizing what everything is around you and I really just being, athlete, but not only it just being a person, I realized like, Okay, everybody has their own way of life,” he explained.
“And this is a sport, don’t get it wrong,” he continued. “But I need to make sure my mental [health is] right before I do anything else. I was able to do a lot of things. I mean, I got engaged, I had the whole nine yards when everybody felt like Clyde might be in the dumps, I was probably on my highest horse.”
Edwards-Helaire had one of his biggest games on Sunday, finishing Week 15 with 13 carries for 37 yards on the ground, and four catches for 64 yards receiving, and one of the best touchdown grabs of the Chiefs’ season. In the third quarter, CEH elevated to snag a ball in mid-air to score a touchdown that extended Kansas City’s lead by two scores.
After the game, CEH said he told quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the team’s loss to Buffalo the previous week that he’d come down with the football if the opportunity arose.
“I rarely drop passes,” said Edwards-Helaire, a four-year veteran. “It’s just one of those things where it was a bitter taste in my mouth. I just told (Mahomes), even when I got the opportunity last week and opportunities this week at practice, I said, ‘If you throw the ball up, bruh, I promise I’m going to come down with it, no matter the situation.'”
Kansas City is expecting Pacheco to return when the Raiders come to Arrowhead on Christmas day after having a clean-up surgery in his shoulder that prevented him from traveling with the team to Foxboro the previous week. While the Chiefs’ firey second-year rusher will have the bulk of the load on the ground, CEH is focused on helping his team whenever his number’s called and making the most of his opportunities.
