Andy Reid, Eric Bieniemy Happy with Clyde Edwards-Helaire's Training Camp Development
When Kansas City Chiefs running back Damien Williams opted out of the 2020 season last month, rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s development timeline sped up.
Edwards-Helaire was originally expected to split time with Williams to start the year. Now, he’ll likely jump into significant time right away — at least based on the words of head coach Andy Reid.
“Clyde has been doing a lot of work with the first group [at training camp], so that’s valuable work for him,” Reid told reporters on Friday. “Is everything perfect? No, not right now, but he’s working like crazy to get it there and he’s got a good attitude about it.”
Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy spent a good part of his virtual press conference Saturday building off Reid’s comments.
Bienemy said he’s confident in the first-round pick’s adjustment to the league even with the lack of preseason games.
“The kid’s got a great look about himself,” Bienemy said. “He works hard, he takes a tremendous amount of pride in everything that he does. He’s in there with a good group. [Running backs coach Deland McCollough] is doing a hell of a job getting those guys going.”
The Chiefs began padded practices on Friday, allowing Edwards-Helaire to further showcase his progression while facing contact situations for the first time since winning the National Championship with LSU in January.
On Saturday, Edwards-Helaire was the victim of a hit from defensive end Frank Clark. Bienemy said the hit is just one of the things Edwards-Helaire can learn from.
“That’s football — welcome back,” Bienemy said. “Frank got him, he tagged him a little bit, welcomed the rookie in, that’s a part of the game. But I will say this, it’s been good watching him the last two days, and every day has been a learning process. The biggest thing I tell all of the guys regardless of whether it’s Clyde or somebody that’s down the line, we want all of our guys to go out there and play hard, play fast and have a sense of urgency. If he makes a mistake, it’s OK. We’ll correct it. The thing we want to do is eliminate the mistakes moving forward.”
If all goes well, Edwards-Helaire could join a group of former LSU running backs to have a major impact during their rookie season. Most recently, Jacksonville Jaguars 2017 first-round pick Leonard Fournette ran for 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns.
Only two Chiefs running backs have reached 1,000 rushing yards as a rookie — Joe Delaney ran for 1,121 yards in 1981, while Kareem Hunt reached 1,327 yards in 2017.
Edwards-Helaire could become the third after running for 1,414 yards as a junior at LSU. First, he’ll have to show progression at training camp before earning regular carries on the Chiefs' run it back tour.
“You know what, it’s just a day to day deal, play by play,” Bienemy said. “We just want to make sure that he’s observing all the information and that he can go out there and process it and make it happen. Right now so far so good.”
Edwards-Helaire was limited in practice on Sunday due to dehydration, according to Reid.
