The biggest questions facing AFC West running backs

Kansas City Chiefs

Running Backs: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, DeAndre Washington, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson

How will we look back on the selection of Clyde Edwards-Helaire?

I’ll be honest: I threw a bit of a tantrum when the Chiefs drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire (CEH). I thought, and frankly still do think, that the Chiefs should’ve drafted Jeff Gladney or Jaylon Johnson, corners to bolster the secondary. That being said, I’m prepared to eat crow this season.

While I generally agree with the “don’t invest in running backs” thesis, I do believe that a lack of explosiveness and consistency at the position hurt the Chiefs at times, especially when Mahomes was dealing with the ankle/knee injury this regular season.

Can CEH become what we thought Kareem Hunt would be? Can he join the ranks of Jamaal Charles, Priest Holmes, and Christian Okoye as the next star of our backfield? Alternatively, what will the addition of Edwards-Helaire do for Mahomes? After all, Mahomes has really only played with an elite running back for 11 games, as Kareem Hunt was released before week 13 in 2018. 

The pessimistic view might be that since Edwards-Helaire is a first-round pick, the Chiefs will feel an obligation to feed him the ball, maybe at the expense of the Mahomes aerial attack. But this view is a little short-sighted. After all, when Kareem Hunt and Mahomes were on the same field, all Mahomes did was throw 37 touchdowns in 11 games. If anything, the Chiefs would have been more inclined back in 2018 to limit Mahomes, as it was his first year starting.

Now that Mahomes has essentially done everything an NFL player could seek to accomplish, I have trouble believing that Edwards-Helaire is going to detract from the production of Mahomes. The question of “should the Chiefs have invested in defense instead of a running back?” is a better challenge to the CEH pick.

What we do know is that the Chiefs offense is utterly stacked. We also know that Andy Reid is perhaps the greatest offensive mind in the NFL. There’s no question that Edwards-Helaire will enjoy terrific production. The question is more if he will transcend the screen—like a Charles, or a Holmes—and eventually establish himself as the next great Chiefs running back. A truly great running back, after all, has an uncanny knack for hopping off the screen. Let’s hope CEH is that kind of player.