KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs on Monday waived running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, a former first-round draft pick who had fallen far down their depth chart.
Edwards-Helaire had hinted at the move in a message posted to X.
“Love ya KC!” Edwards-Helaire wrote. “A family I didn’t know I needed, y’all made a Kid from Baton Rouge dreams come true!
“To Chiefs Kingdom , its all love and the support I had in troubling times will forever be unmatched from you guys! With love!”
Edwards-Helaire, who hasn’t played this season, was the fifth of five running backs on the Chiefs’ roster, behind Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, Samaje Perine and Carson Steele. The Chiefs will need the roster spot soon.
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown returned to practice last week and could be activated from injured reserve in time for Saturday’s game against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs drafted Edwards-Helaire out of LSU in 2020. He led the team in rushing that season with 803 yards, but his production decreased every year after that. He lost his starting spot to Pacheco during the 2022 season and never got it back.
During training camp this year, Edwards-Helaire talked about his experience with PTSD that stems from a 2018 incident when he was in college.
Two LSU football players were trying to sell an electronic item when one of them fatally shot an 18-year-old man attempting to rob them, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police said. The police didn’t identify the players, but The Associated Press reported that Edwards-Helaire was one of them.
Edwards-Helaire occasionally missed practice during his time with the Chiefs to deal with his condition. The Chiefs placed him on the non-football illness list to begin this season before activating him.
“Sometimes I’m admitted into the hospital, something like I can’t stop throwing up and it’s just, I [don’t] know [anything] pretty much to stop it,” Edwards-Helaire said in August. “Real bad dehydration … but it’s really just mentally just not being there.”
