Getty Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
Right at the May 2 deadline, the Kansas City Chiefs have made a decision regarding running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year option: they have declined it, according to Chiefs Digest’s Matt Derrick.
Accepting his fifth-year option would have kept Edwards-Helaire under contract with the Chiefs through the 2024 season. It would have also put him on the books with a $5.4 million fully guaranteed salary in 2024 according to Over The Cap.
Instead, Kansas City is declining CEH’s fifth-year option, which will make him a free agent in 2024.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire at Crossroads of NFL Career
The key decision to decline Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year option came after three years of inconsistent play from the former 32nd overall pick.
Following a 3 touchdown performance in the Chiefs’ 41-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 of the 2022 regular season, Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s production dipped over the next couple of games to the point that he was supplanted by Isiah Pacheco as Kansas City’s lead back in Week 7 against the San Francisco 49ers. After moving down the depth chart, Edwards-Helaire registered 10 total touches and 28 total yards from Week 7 to Week 10 according to Pro Football Reference.
Edwards-Helaire suffered a high-ankle sprain during Kansas City’s 30-27 win over the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11 and was placed on injured reserve on November 23.
The Chiefs opened CEH’s 21-day practice window to return from injured reserve on January 17, which was during the week leading up to the AFC Championship game. Yet, CEH remained sidelined for the AFC Title Game as well.
Kansas City activated Edwards-Helaire from injured reserve on February 6 — a day before the deadline to activate him. That put him in line to continue to practice and become a part of the Super Bowl game plan in some capacity. However, he was never activated in time for the Chiefs’ 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.
After a rookie season in which he gathered 1,100 total yards from scrimmage and 5 total touchdowns in 13 regular season games, injuries forced Edwards-Helaire to miss 14 regular season games and three playoff games over the last two seasons. That led to him accumulating just 1,099 total scrimmage yards over that same timeframe.
Brett Veach ‘Excited’ for Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Speaking to the media on May 1, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach was asked about Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year option and spoke glowingly about the former LSU back but did not say what the Chiefs’ decision would be.
“With the Draft just being over now that’s another thing that we’ll get addressed here soon. We’re excited though for Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) this season,” Veach said during his press conference. “He was actually the first guy I saw in the building today, in tremendous shape. He’s a good football player. He’s going to help us out here, again, with these guys we have a list of things to do with a bunch of these guys and now that the draft is officially ended in the next coming weeks now’s the time we go through all that stuff and start making our plans for the future.
“But needless to say, we’re excited to have him back in the building today and look forward to hopefully a healthy 2023 campaign for him.”