Drafting of Clyde Edwards-Helaire earns ‘C’ grade from Bleacher Report

A midseason grading of the 2020 NFL Draft gave the Chiefs a “C” for their pick of Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

When the Kansas City Chiefs selected a running back with their lone first-round pick in the last three years, it definitely turned heads for a number of reasons. The NFL’s best offense was adding the best running back in the draft to the mix. The team was also going against trends that said running backs were easy to find. Finally, the move seemed to ignore greater needs at, say, cornerback or the offensive line.

Eight games into the season, Bleacher Report’s Christopher Knox says the Chiefs deserve a “C” grade for taking LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire at No. 32 overall. Let’s look at his argument to see how this stands up to any scrutiny.

First, it should be noted that Knox is hardly the only one who doesn’t seem to be a fan of the idea of using a first-round pick on a running back in general. The Chiefs had several detractors at the time of the draft, so any attempts to grade a draft class are bound to bring this up.

Second, let’s also note just how stupid it is to grade a draft after eight games (especially with no preseason).

Knox notes at first that we’ve seen good and bad from Edwards-Helaire so far, and he’s absolutely right about that. From the season-opening performance that earned considerable hype against the Houston Texans to his dominant showing in primetime (once again) in a win over the Buffalo Bills, Edwards-Helaire has deserved plenty of hype so far this year. Yet in other games, he’s played a minor role in the offense.

From there, however, Knox gets a bit silly. Check out the following:

"The Chiefs appeared unsure of Edwards-Helaire enough that they recently signed Le’Veon Bell. In Week 8, the two backs received six carries apiece."

Yeah, that’s the worst way to read into the Chiefs’ acquisition of Bell. The team’s plan all along was for Edwards-Helaire to work in tandem with Damien Williams, until he decided to opt out on the year. Then after five weeks, the New York Jets released a former All-Pro running back who is motivated to win a championship. The Chiefs signed him for a single season at $1 million with incentives. Of course they make that move. Edwards-Helaire has nothing to do with it. The Chiefs would have signed that same deal if Darrel Williams was Gale Sayers and Darwin Thompson was Jamaal Charles.

Finally, Knox just continues to type any bit of nonsense to apparently finish a column on time. He closes with this:

"To put things into perspective, consider this: Edwards-Helaire is on pace for 1,552 scrimmage yards. Undrafted Jaguars rookie James Robinson is on pace for 1,614 scrimmage yards."

You guys, can you believe James Robinson of the Jags is earning so many yards more than Edwards-Helaire? Teddy Bridgewater has more passing yards than Deshaun Watson and Aaron Rodgers, so clearly he’s also the better quarterback. These lazy comps are so ridiculous that it’s hardly worth defending, yet we’re already here, so we should continue. Basically if Knox cannot tell the difference between a roster void of talent on which Robinson can be “the guy” and Edwards-Helaire having to compete with Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and company, then he has no business making these lists.

Then again, we probably are wasting our time even commenting on it.