Chiefs release former first-round pick, 2-time Super Bowl champ Clyde Edwards-Helaire

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Chiefs and former first-round pick running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire have parted ways.

Edwards-Helaire, a 25-year-old running back in his fifth season in the National Football League, announced that he’s leaving the organization on Monday afternoon.

“Love ya KC!,” Edwards-Helaire wrote on social media. A family I didn’t know I needed, y’all made a Kid from Baton Rouge dreams come true! To Chiefs Kingdom, its all love and the I had in troubling times will forever be unmatched from you guys! With love! -- Clydro”

The organization said it had waived him shortly after Edwards-Helaire announced that he was leaving the Chiefs.

The former LSU star was drafted with the 32nd overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Chiefs after a standout college season helped the Tigers win the national championship.

In 48 career games, Edwards-Helaire had 441 carries for 1,845 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also totaled 89 receptions for 765 yards and 7 touchdowns. He had career highs in rushing and receiving yards during his rookie season in 2020 but never managed to play more than 13 games in a season due to various injuries.

In 2022, Edwards-Helaire began the season as the Chiefs starting running back but eventually lost that role in favor of then-rookie running back Isiah Pacheco. The 5-foot-7 running back was a healthy scratch in a Super Bowl LVII win over the Philadelphia Eagles and played sparingly in a Super Bowl LVIII win over the San Francisco 49ers.

The Chiefs declined to pick up Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year rookie option following his third season but re-signed him to a one-year deal ahead of the 2024 season.

However, Edwards-Helaire never suited up for the Chiefs this season.

During training camp, the fifth-year Chiefs running back revealed that he’d been battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that stemmed from a December 2018 shooting incident in which he and his LSU teammate Jared Small were victims of an attempted robbery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

READ MORE: Edwards-Helaire opens up about coping with PTSD at training camp

“With that happening at such a young age, my first couple years, you just try to block everything out,” he said on Aug. 1 in St. Joseph, Missouri. “Like, ‘Oh, at some point I’m going to get over it.’ You start to realize that just doesn’t happen. You get older and you realize no matter the age, no matter the person, no matter the situation – everyone needs help at some point. It’s just being able to step up and know, ‘This is the help I need,’ or ‘This is what I need to ask for.’”

Edwards-Helaire played sparingly in Kansas City’s preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars and did not participate in either of the final two preseason games. In September, the Chiefs placed Edwards-Helaire on the non-football illness list.

For several weeks, Edwards-Helaire was a healthy scratch from the Chiefs active gameday roster. His release could provide the roster opening required for Kansas City to activate wide receiver Hollywood Brown, who is expected to return following a shoulder injury suffered in the preseason.

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