Brett Veach: Chiefs remain ‘excited’ for Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Brett Veach spoke with the media on the Monday following the draft and addressed Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s status.

The Kansas City Chiefs have only one more day to figure out what they are going to do about Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year option before the official deadline to exercise or decline it. Suffice it to say that no one is still sure as of yet what Chiefs general manager Brett Veach will decide, but he did speak highly of Edwards-Helaire in his media session on Monday.

Edwards-Heliare was the Chiefs’ first-round selection back in the 2020 NFL Draft at No. 32 overall, and the status of first-round picks is that each of them comes with an option to extend the contract for a fifth and final season—one year more than the typical rookie deals slotted for every other round. The only difference is that the price tag gets expensive.

For the Chiefs, the total to extend Edwards-Helaire comes to $5.46 million, per Over the Cap. That’s a rather big number from the outside looking in, especially since such a cap hit this season would place him at No. 12 overall in the NFL.

Even Edwards-Helaire’s current deal, which forces the Chiefs to pay him nearly $3.5 million this season, feels like too much for the production he provides. Knowing that Jerick McKinnon is likely going to return to the roster sometimes soon and that Isiah Pacheco is the lead back, it doesn’t make sense to pay a third running back more than any other on the roster.

Yet when asked about Edwards-Helaire’s status with the team, Veach had nothing but positive things to say on Monday:

“With the draft just being over here now, that’s another thing that will be addressed soon. We’re excited for Clyde. He’s actually the first guy I saw in the building today. He’s in tremendous shape. He’s a good football player. He’s gonna help us out here. … We’re excited to have him back in the building today and look forward to hopefully a healthy 2023 campaign from him.”

It would be a tremendous story for Edwards-Helaire to bounce back and find a way forward with the Chiefs that utilizes his gifts in the best way. And perhaps there’s some expectation here that the long season could provide opportunities for that to happen. But right now, the cost and cap hit does not feel proportional to the expectations here and any fifth year option would only make that even more nonsensical.