Will a true top running back emerge for KC Chiefs after the bye?

Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Entering the season most people assumed Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the most likely candidate to be KC’s lead back. While he is the clear leader in touches through seven games, the situation has been a lot muddier than many people expected. Clyde has run the ball 65 times for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns so far this season. That’s an average of 4.4 yards per carry. However, if you take away CEH’s 52-yard run he’s only averaged 3.6 yards per carry on his other rushes. As we’ll see in a minute that doesn’t favor comparably to Pacheco.

Clyde has also been used in the passing game with 16 receptions for 137 yards and three more touchdowns. He’s also graded favorably in pass protection with PFF (for what that is worth). He only has 13 pass protection snaps this season, but he’s received a 63.6 grade on those snaps (compared to McKinnon’s 25.0). I’m not ready to call Clyde a better pass protector than McKinnon over PFF grades on roughly a dozen snaps, but I do feel like CEH has improved his pass blocking since he came into the league.

So what should the Chiefs do with Clyde? He’s an okay runner, but Pacheco has shown more upside when running the ball so far this season. He’s also solid in the passing game, but I don’t know that he’s proven himself to be better than McKinnon in that regard. So does CEH deserve to get the most running back snaps because he can do both parts of the job “okay” or does he deserve to get the least snaps because the other backs have strengths better than his?

Before we answer that we need to take a closer look at the rookie.