Clyde Edwards-Helaire explains what kept him in Kansas City

The former first-rounder is back on a one-year deal backing up starter Isiah Pacheco.

11 months ago, the Kansas City Chiefs declined the fifth-year option of former 2020 first-round running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Those who follow the team fully expected the move, just given that the four-year veteran had been replaced by Isiah Pacheco midway through the 2022 season. Pacheco would rush for 830 yards and five touchdowns.

And so the situation became settled: Edwards-Helaire would keep his spell role for 2023, then find a new home for the 2024 season once he hit unrestricted free agency.

Or so we thought.

As is known now, it didn’t really work out that way. Last week, the Chiefs signed Edwards-Helaire to a one-year contract for him to remain in Kansas City.

“You really just look at things and call it a spade, a spade for a lot of things,” said the running back, recalling the process on a media call on Monday. “I wasn’t the starter. Picking up a fifth-year option for a guy who was in rotation and just looking at the number, looking at things, looking at cap space, as a football guy and a player, you see those things, and some people call it the writing on the wall — [but] you got to call it the actual sport that we’re playing.”

Edwards-Helaire knew that, with the role change, naturally, his numbers would decline — and Kansas City would be unwilling to commit $5.5 million for 2024 two years in advance.

Rather than concentrating on that, he turned his attention to playing as best he could in the role he was given. Edwards-Helaire finished the 2023 season with 86 touches for 411 yards and two touchdowns, adding 15 playoff touches for 60 yards in the playoffs.

Free agency came next for the first time in his pro career.

Edwards-Helaire described his personal free-agent journey as “slow” and “different,” pointing out he and his agents explored different scenarios elsewhere but ultimately landed on Kansas City as the best fit.

Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images

“KC literally is home,” said the former LSU product. “I left Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where I was born and raised and drafted to the middle of the country. Everybody was telling me it was the best place on Earth, and the only thing I could do was embrace it. I was doing the thing that I love — playing football — and grew the most in these last five years. [I] got engaged, actually figured out what life is. Buying homes, helping my mom with things, helping my parents. It’s just somewhere that I feel like I became a man.

“[In 2020], I was 20 years old, leaving college, not really knowing what was going on. And prior to that, I was still just a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, kid at LSU just doing the thing that I want to do is play football and then before you knew it, the snap of a finger, I was moving 12 hours away from home. So this is literally my next spot, and it’s home, and I want to continue that. [I] still can do the things that I love — ride four-wheelers, hunt, fish. It’s kind of like that second sportsman paradise for me. And it’s even better that I’m here doing the thing that I love and just playing ball.”

Over the past four seasons, it would be reasonable to say that Edwards-Helaire drew criticism from Chiefs fans based on his draft position. As the running back struggled over the years due to injury and other issues, the fan base’s commentary hasn’t always been rosy.

Speaking on Monday, he more or less explained that he understood.

“Everybody’s passionate about the things that they love and the things that they watch,” said Edwards-Helaire. “A lot of it is pure emotion. I’ve said things, did things out of emotion that, in terms of passion… You take those punches, roll with it, it builds armor, and it lets you know that the fans in KC really mean well, but it keeps you on your toes in order to, keep things rolling, like winning Super Bowls. It’s no mediocre thing. I’m not shying away or shy of championships. I have always kind of been on championship teams. And when I’m not in a championship, I’m usually very close. So it’s just that, that thing that I carry on my shoulder that I want to continue to do and be around championship team and championship staff.”

Edwards-Helaire referenced the season’s final stretch when he was called for two spot starts in Weeks 14 and 15 against the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots, respectively. A reminder of what he could do came in the game against the Patriots, when he took a perfectly-timed screen up the field for 48 yards as part of a 101 scrimmage-yard performance.

“Having that start and if I had to be that spark in that situation, I knew if it wasn’t one play, it had to be multiple,” said Edwards-Helaire of the performance. “And that’s when I felt like I needed — I had that game in order to start stacking those things. And then from that point on, it was just like it was a never-ending cycle. It was like it was an avalanche, and we just kept rolling with those things. Everybody seen that we can catch the ball, everybody see that we can run those screens. Everybody seen that we can do those things in order to win the game in pressure moments and pressure situations, no matter the team, no matter the the arena. I feel like that was one of those, those things that we needed.

“And yeah, I’ll say it was, it was a semi-spark for me and those things of knowing, ‘Just get back to who you are. And, and, and always just be yourself.’”

The final piece that made returning a no-brainer for Edwards-Helaire is the fact that he gets to play with both quarterback Patrick Mahomes and, perhaps even more importantly, tight end Travis Kelce.

“[Kelce’s] someone that’s been in my corner and then picked me up from my lowest of lows and then when I was on my highest of highs just been there trying to put a rocket on my back,” said Edwards-Helaire. “I just knew this was the perfect place for me to not only become a three-time Super Bowl champion but continue the legacy of the Chiefs and continue the things that I’m doing as a player.”