Clyde Edwards-Helaire will miss next 4 games for Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs have placed running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire on injured reserve, which means he’s out until late December.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t have to say exactly how severe the ankle injury was for Clyde Edwards-Helaire this week. Their placement of Edwards-Helaire on the team’s injured reserve list says enough about how serious it is.

On Wednesday, the team placed Edwards-Helaire on IR among a series of moves which opens up a roster spot where the former first-round running back used to be. In his place, they activated offensive lineman Lucas Niang, who has been injured himself for the entirety of the 2022 season thus far as he returns from a major patellar injury suffered last season.

Edwards-Helaire went down during the team’s recent win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11. CEH hasn’t received many carries at all lately as he’s watched his offensive workload diminish with the rise of seventh-round rookie Isiah Pacheco in recent weeks. That said, the loss of Edwards-Helaire for the next months makes the backfield thinner than it needs to be, which means further moves should be expected.

So far this season, Edwards-Helaire has 453 total yards from scrimmage to go with six touchdowns, five of which came in the first four games of the season. Since that first month, however, the Chiefs have reshaped the pecking order in the backfield and given Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon more targets and touches. Waiting in the wings of the active roster is Ronald Jones, who could be the next man up at the position.

Among other moves, the Chiefs signed former Rams tight end Kendall Blanton to the practice squad to take over for Jordan Franks, who was moved to the team’s injured list for practice squad players.