Chiefs waive former RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire in 1st round

On By Littum

The Chiefs released Clyde Edwards-Helaire on Sunday in his fifth season since selecting him in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

The Chiefs released Clyde Edwards-Helaire on Monday in his fifth season since selecting him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

The Kansas City Chiefs have waived running back and former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

The The Chiefs announced the decision Monday afternoon. Shortly before the announcement, Edwards-Helaire released a statement on social media addressing the Chiefs, Kansas City and the team’s fans.

“Love you KC!” Edwards-Helaire wrote. “A family I didn’t know I needed, you all made a kid from Baton Rouge dreams come true! To Chiefs Kingdom, it’s all the love and support I had in difficult times will forever be unmatched from you! With love!

The Chiefs selected Edwards-Helaire with the 32nd pick in the first round of the 2020 draft. He was the first running back drafted that year after a career at LSU as an All-SEC running back for the 2019 Tigers team that won a national championship behind a historic offense that featured future NFL stars Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.

Edwards-Helaire had an outstanding rookie season with Kansas City in 2020. He tallied 1,100 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns as the featured back for a Chiefs team that went 13-1 in a COVID-shortened campaign and advanced to the Super Bowl won by Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Edwards-Helaire played three more seasons with the Chiefs, winning Super Bowls in each of the final two seasons. But his role and his production declined in each season after his rookie campaign, and he lost his starting job in 2022 to then-rookie Isiah Pacheco.

The Chiefs placed Edwards-Helaire on the non-football illness list on Sept. 2 ahead of their season opener, and he has not played a game this season. Edwards-Helaire previously announced on July 29 that he has been living with PTSD.

He opened up about his condition and told reporters days later, that PTSD has resulted in cyclic vomiting syndrome and that he has required hospitalization.

“I have PTSD and cyclic vomiting syndrome,” he said on August 1. “So it’s something that’s kind of neurological that they’re just helping me through and going through it.

“Sometimes I get hospitalized, something — I can’t stop throwing up. Nothing much to stop it … But it’s really, really bad dehydration, losing weight really fast. It’s really just , mentally, just not being there.”

He said he has been dealing with PTSD since a 2018 shooting while at LSU. He and linebacker Jared Small were involved in a fatal shooting when someone tried to rob them at gunpointaccording to Baton Rouge police.

Edwards-Helaire described the incident as “a self-defense situation,” and prosecutors determined the shooting was a case of justified power. No charges were ever brought against the players and they were released.

He is the side acknowledged that he was the one to pull the trigger in the shooting, which he said was to save Small’s life. He thanked his fellow Chiefs, including head coach Andy Reid and tight end Travis Kelce on “The Pivot” podcast for helping him cope with his PTSD.

Edwards-Helaire, 25, did not comment Monday on whether he intends to continue pursuing a football career.