Clyde Edwards-Helaire - Saves $2,085,670
Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson once said that NFL contracts aren't really contracts but a one-year agreement between a team and a player. "If you have a 10-year contract, it means nothing," Dickerson said. "If you get cut in the NFL, you get nothing. People don’t talk about that." That is true, being a blunt view of how teams hold the most power about who they pay and how much. The running back position is in a tumultuous time regarding its monetary value. But, there is little question that Clyde Edwards-Helaire is not worth the final year of his contract.
He was named one of the worst contracts on a Chiefs roster with very few bad contracts. The production was good when he was available during the 2022 season. But, no signs point to him being RB1 in Kansas City anymore, and Andy Reid knows how to deploy Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon without Edwards-Helaire in the picture. Both McKinnon and Pacheco, even throw undrafted rookie Deneric Prince into the picture, those three's cap hits do not come close to equalling Edwards-Helaire's $3.4 million cap hit.
That hit is the 17th-largest in the league. Is Edwards-Helaire the 17th-best running back in the league? Is he even the 17th-best player in Kansas City? The answer to both of those questions is no. If Veach can find a trade partner for Edwards-Helaire, the Chiefs should be listening. The move gives more than $2 million in cap relief and that may not sound like much in the NFL world. But, the relief opens up the team for the smaller transactions they accrue through the year. A trade gives Edwards-Helaire a much-needed change of scenery and ends his chapter with the Chiefs.