{"id":141614,"date":"2023-05-19T14:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T18:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=141614"},"modified":"2023-05-18T18:45:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T22:45:01","slug":"clyde-edwards-helaire-cut-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/05\/19\/clyde-edwards-helaire-cut-chiefs\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Analyst: Chiefs Could Cut This Former First-Round Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the NFL Draft and first wave of free agency already gone, the vast majority of the Kansas City Chiefs team-building process is already complete. However, there could still be one or two exciting moves, and <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10075982-the-best-player-who-could-still-be-cut-from-every-nfl-roster-in-2023-offseason\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Kenyon of Bleacher Report<\/a> believes that the Chiefs could cut former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire.<\/p>\n<h2>Bleacher Report: Chiefs Could Cut Clyde Edwards-Helaire<\/h2>\n<h3>Why This Could Happen<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s no secret that Clyde Edwards-Helaire has not played up to his draft status, and Kenyon doesn\u2019t shy away from how two disappointing years have made him anything but a lock for the final roster.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, seventh-round rookie Isiah Pacheco and aging veteran Jerick McKinnon usurped Edwards-Helaire on the depth chart, and since both players are back, it stands to reason that the former first-round pick could be the odd man out. For what it&#8217;s worth, it appeared as though even Ronald Jones jumped Edwards-Helaire, as he was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/02\/12\/kansas-city-chiefs-win-super-bowl-57-patrick-mahomes\/\" target=\"_self\">active for the Super Bowl<\/a> and the former first-round pick wasn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>Kenyon\u2019s article covers all 32 teams, so it goes without saying that he didn\u2019t have time to write more than a quick paragraph on his thoughts. So, let\u2019s analyze the Chiefs running back depth chart and see if the team can afford to cut Clyde Edwards-Helaire.<\/p>\n<h3>Does Clyde Edwards-Helaire Have A Future In Kansas City<\/h3>\n<p>It seems like a lifetime ago that Clyde Edwards-Helaire began his career by recording 138 yards and a touchdown in front of a national audience. Ever since his professional debut, everything has gone south for the LSU product.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Texans can\u2019t tackle Clyde Edwards-Helaire \ud83d\ude31<\/p>\n<p>(via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thecheckdown?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@thecheckdown<\/a>)<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lxkZxua6uC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lxkZxua6uC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1304258093870702592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 11, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Over the past two seasons, a combination of injuries and ineffectiveness have sent the former first-round pick plummeting to the bottom of the depth chart. Once believed to be a lock for the three-down role, Edwards-Helaire lost rushing and receiving responsibilities as the season progressed, and it&#8217;s hard to see him regaining those roles without injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, Clyde Edwards-Helaire is not Kansas City\u2019s first choice at running back, but the lack of depth could keep him on the roaster. Pacheco is currently recovering from surgery and McKinnon isn\u2019t exactly the youngest player in the league. Chances are, the Chiefs will need their third running back to play a decent role at some point in the season, and Edwards-Helaire seems to be the best choice for the job.<\/p>\n<p>Despite strong running back classes in both the NFL Draft and free agency, the Chiefs decided not to add anyone of note over the past few months. So, unless the team feels comfortable about La\u2019Mical Perine being one snap away from the starting job, Edwards-Helaire will probably stick around.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Chiefs don\u2019t have much of a financial incentive to part ways with Clyde Edwards-Helaire. According to OverTheCap, Kansas City would take $2.57 million in dead money while clearing up just $865,726 by cutting him.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, Edwards-Helaire will probably make the roster not because he\u2019s good, but because the Chiefs lack any semblance of running back depth. So, if somebody like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/05\/03\/dalvin-cook-trade-happen\/\" target=\"_self\">Dalvin Cook suddenly becomes available<\/a>, don\u2019t be surprised if the Chiefs aggressively pursue him and part ways with Edwards-Helaire in the process. No matter what happens this year, it\u2019s hard to envision a world where he\u2019s on the team in 2024.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Cary Edmonson &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Bleacher Report&#8217;s latest article, the Kansas City Chiefs could cut former first-round running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":141616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[7811,6260,9537,618],"class_list":["post-141614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chiefs","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-clyde-edwards-helaire","tag-isiah-pacheco","tag-jerick-mckinnon"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}