Clyde Edwards-Helaire posts heartening message after being released by Chiefs

After a season in which he has sat on the active roster as a healthy scratch for 14 games, the Kansas City Chiefs decided to part ways with veteran running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Heading into Week 15, for whatever reason that made this the proper time, the Chiefs said goodbye to their former first-round pick on Monday by releasing him. Perhaps his roster spot had become too valuable or maybe there were internal discussions of making a call. Either way, his release brings about an end of a career for a person who was beloved and a player who was often criticized.

Upon the news of his release being made public, Edwards-Helaire posted the following on social media:

The Chiefs have largely moved on from Edwards-Helaire this season despite having him around the team in some way or another all year long. They placed him on the NFI list to start the year which menat he had to miss the first four games of the season. From there, they activated him and had him on the active roster, but Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns marked the 10th consecutive game that he'd taken up a roster spot while being protected there on the active roster.

Edwards-Helaire first joined the Chiefs as their first-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. He was a celebrated back out of Louisiana State and was the first RB taken in his draft class. Unfortunately those pressures of being the top back proved to be too much and Edwards-Helaire always felt like a slightly odd fit for what the Chiefs asked him to do.

Still only 25 years old, Edwards-Helaire has missed this entire season so far, but he started 32 games and played in 48 over the previous four seasons. In that span, he rushed 441 times for 1,845 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also caught another 89 passes for 765 receiving yards and 7 more touchdowns.