With the 2025 NFL playoffs just around the corner, teams continue to make roster moves. On Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs confirmed the exit of another Super Bowl champion with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
The team decided to waive running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who had been a healthy scratch in every game of the 2024 NFL season since the Chiefs activated him to the 53-man roster in October.
The Chiefs had placed him on the non-football injury list before Week 1, being aware of a difficult situation in the player’s life. During the offseason, Edwards-Helaire opened up on his longstanding battle with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Letting him go wasn’t an easy decision for the Chiefs, as the player was part of two Super Bowl wins (LVII, LVIII) during his five-year tenure at Arrowhead. When talking about Edwards-Helaire’s departure for the first time on Tuesday, Reid admitted that he’d love to reunite with the player at some point.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire talks about dealing with PTSD while meeting with the media after practice at training camp.
“We’ve released Clyde (Edwards-Helaire), so we have a spot available. We’ve got these injuries that we’re juggling here,” Reid said. “So we just got to see how that goes before we move somebody up or down or whatever you know (Brett) Veach wants to do with that thing. But we sure appreciate it. Clyde, too, for all he did here. I (would) love to get him back sometime, too. So, I mean, what a great kid he is.“
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Edwards-Helaire’s stint with Reid’s Chiefs
Edwards-Helaire arrived in Kansas City with big expectations around him, as the Chiefs used a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. It made sense, as the running back shone with LSU in college.
Reid saw him produce 530 total touches for 2,610 yards from scrimmage and 19 touchdowns in 48 appearances with the Chiefs, apart from 263 rushing yards and a touchdown in eight playoff games.
But the connection between Edwards-Helaire and the Chiefs went beyond the numbers, as the player found a home in Kansas City and Chiefs Kingdom embraced him like one of their own.
Reid, Chiefs could use roster spot left by Edwards-Helaire
Therefore, parting with him must have been a tough decision for the franchise. But with the playoffs drawing nearer and the desire to win a third straight Super Bowl untouched, the team felt like it was the best move to open up a roster spot.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire #25 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs with the ball during the second half against the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on January 13, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Chiefs have many players coming back from injury, including star wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who has yet to play in the 2024 NFL season after suffering a shoulder injury in preseason.
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A potential reunion will have to wait
While Reid expressed his desire to work together again in the future, that will have to wait. Now that the Chiefs let him go, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that Edwards-Helaire is joining the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad.
