KC Chiefs Running Back Room Still Needs More After Re-Signing Clyde Edwards-Helaire; J.K. Dobbins Next?
The Kansas City Chiefs re-signed running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but could J.K. Dobbins or another back still be added to the room?
The Kansas City Chiefs bolstered their running back room by re-signing former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire to a new one-year deal, but more moves should be on the horizon as the Chiefs build out their roster before, during, and after the 2024 NFL Draft.
Edwards-Helaire turns 25 on April 11 and rejoins the Chiefs to play alongside starting running back Isiah Pacheco, who turned 25 in March. Edwards-Helaire ran for 223 yards and one touchdown in 2023, averaging career lows with 3.2 yards per attempt and 14.9 rushing yards per game. He added 17 receptions for 188 yards and a touchdown through the air in the regular season before adding 15 touches for 60 total yards in the playoffs. With no news about the potential return of free agent veteran Jerick McKinnon (who turns 32 in May), the Chiefs' running back room is still thin, inexperienced, and lacking in explosiveness.
Behind Pacheco and Edwards-Helaire, the Chiefs' most noteworthy backups would be La'Mical Perine, Deneric Prince, and perhaps Welsh rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit. Perine got 22 attempts with KC in 2023, Prince got zero, and Rees-Zammit is learning American football.
The same day the Chiefs agreed to terms with Edwards-Helaire, they reportedly hosted former Baltimore Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins for a visit, though he left without a deal and the Chiefs inked Edwards-Helaire. Nate Taylor of The Athletic tweeted that the door remains open for Dobbins down the road, but nothing is imminent at this time.
"As for [J.K.] Dobbins," Taylor wrote, "I'm told his visit today was productive for both parties, perhaps a partnership that could happen later this offseason."
Assuming that Edwards-Helaire's deal is team-friendly and low-impact on the salary cap, the Chiefs have options for how to bolster their group of runners. They could draft a running back for another infusion of young, cost-controlled talent late in the draft (as they did with Pacheco in the seventh round in 2022) but should have no business looking at backs through the first two days of the draft (as they did when they took Edwards-Helaire in the first round in 2020). Dobbins could still be a logical fit, but pairing Dobbins with Edwards-Helaire would mean putting a duo of injury-impacted backs behind the violent-running Pacheco. They could wait until after the draft to add multiple undrafted free agents to compete for playing time in training camp while hoping that Edwards-Helaire could carry a third-down role with Pacheco carrying the bulk of the workload.
The NFL has evolved into a running back-by-committee league in recent years, and giving Pacheco a legitimate No. 2 change-up back still makes sense for the Chiefs. If Pacheco and Edwards-Helaire are the No. 1 and No. 3 backs for the Chiefs in 2024, that's fine, but someone else still needs to be added to the room to share the load with Pacheco, especially after Pacheco has played through or lost time to injuries through both of his first two seasons in the league.
