‘A lot of emotion,’ Chiefs rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire says of return to New Orleans
The first time Clyde Edwards-Helaire played inside the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, he wore a high school uniform.
He was 16 years old then, in what he figured to be the biggest game of his life to that point — the Louisiana Class 5A state championship. He left that day with the game’s most outstanding player award.
The most recent time Edwards-Helaire played inside the Superdome, he was a college junior at Louisiana State, in what he figured to be the biggest game of his life to that point. He left as a college football national champion.
He once appropriately referred to that a full-circle moment.
Little did he know.
The Chiefs visit New Orleans on Sunday, and for Edwards-Helaire, their rookie running back, that means yet another trip to the stadium that has carried more special meaning than any other. The Superdome is just a little more than an hour away from his hometown of Baton Rouge.
But it stands at the center of his biggest accomplishments in football. To date.
“It’s going to bring up a lot of emotion for me,” Edwards-Helaire said. “Just knowing that stadium has so (many) connections to my career.”
Team victories, to be sure. But the individual performances stand out, too. Edwards-Helaire has played a leading role in his games inside the venue.
In his high school state championship game, he produced 249 total yards and a touchdown for Catholic High (Baton Rough, Louisiana). He was he star of the game in a 31-28 win after he’d missed the second half of the previous week with an injury. “I knew coming into this game, I had a lot to prove,” he told NOLA.com after that game.
He returned two years later, his first ever college football game. He totaled 47 yards on eight touches in a 27-0 LSU win against BYU. Ho, hum, right?
Another two years later, he was back at the Superdome, this time for another championship. He totaled 164 yards in LSU’s win against Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
“I’ve won every single one,” he said. “Hopefully I don’t jinx it. Knock on wood.”
Edwards-Helaire arrives in New Orleans this weekend as the leading rusher for the defending Super Bowl champions. He’s third among NFL rookies with 724 rushing yards. He’s averaging 4.3 yards per carry. He’s added 293 receiving yards — also third among rookie running backs — after catching five passes in last week’s win against the Dolphins.
He had eyed this particular date on the calendar — Dec. 20 — when the NFL released every team’s schedule in the late spring. Alas, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the homecoming. The Saints will allow only 3,000 fans in the building after original plans to permit 15,000, which was still a far cry from the building’s capacity of 76,000.
In other words, a section of family members wearing Chiefs No. 25 jerseys isn’t going to happen, though he did plan on spending this week making at least his mother among those 3,000 in attendance.
“It’s going to be a very interesting couple of days” trying to secure them tickets,” Edwards-Helaire said.