Coming out of the bye week, the Kansas City Chiefs should be well rested and ready for the next stretch of the regular season after getting an earlier break than normal in 2024. The good news is that they went in with a perfect record at 5-0—one of only two such teams who are still unbeaten in the NFL—and their last performance was their most complete game to date in a win over the New Orleans Saints.
An interesting facet of the team's offense right now is just how well the ground game is working even without lead back Isiah Pacheco. The former seventh-round selection is healing up from a fractured fibula on injured reserve, yet in his absence, the Chiefs have corraled a nice group of talented running backs to carry the load (pun intended).
Clyde Edwards-Helaire should finally be ready to contribute coming out of the Week 6 bye for the Chiefs.
Through the first five games of the season, the Chiefs rushing attack was looking good for a unit in such disarray coming into the start of the year.
Of course, a single metric doesn't tell the full story, and every Chiefs back would love to improve on the team's overall average of 3.9 yards per carry on the season. But it does show just how impressive the ground game has been in the face of injuries and concerns, including the loss of Pacheco and the absence of Clyde Edwards-Helaire to start the season.
The good news is that the unit should be at full strength in good time and that begins with the return of Edwards-Helaire to the field. The team activated Edwards-Helaire from the non-football injury (NFI) list to start the year, which forced him to miss the first four games of the season. From there, he was available but failed to play in the team's win over the Saints in Week 5, making it clear the Chiefs were bringing him back slowly.
Now, however, the Chiefs have given him another two weeks to prepare for his on-field debut in '24 and it looks like it should happen sometime against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7.
So much how much playing time will Edwards-Helaire receive? Last season, when healthy, Edwards-Helaire's workload was impossible to predict. He had as few as 2 offensive snaps in a game and as many as 40. He played in 22% of all possible offensive snaps for him, which is enough to spell a starter for a series or two every game.
This time around, however, the Chiefs are deeper than before. While Jerick McKinnon is no longer around, the Chiefs replaced him with Samaje Perine. Kareem Hunt is playing the lead back role with Pacheco out, but Carson Steele is maintaining a presence on offense and special teams. It's possible Steele will be relegated to return duties as Edwards-Helaire takes his offensive load, but the Chiefs have featured Steele too much to believe they'd make that trade.
Will Edwards-Helaire remain a healthy scratch on the active roster? Will be find a very bit part in the rotation? Is it even possible the former first-round pick ever finds himself as a primary ball carrier without Pacheco around?
Anything is possible but if the Chiefs are cool to keep rolling with a hot hand, Edwards-Helaire might want to get comfortable as a rarely played asset who largely provides security while waiting in the wings.
