Kansas City Chiefs rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire uses music to calm nerves
Chiefs rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire is confident he’ll be able to conquer any pregame jitters that might overwhelm him prior to kickoff at Super Bowl LV on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
“I am not going to say necessarily I am a nervous person, but I am kind of a nervous person,” Edwards-Helaire said Monday in a Zoom call with reporters. “I tend to have the same routine, just to knock my nerves down. My go-to song that kind of calms my nerves … it’s ‘Too Much’ by Drake. Usually I listen to that before I go on the field.”
What that particular song does for the 21-year-old Edwards-Helaire — who knows big games after combining for 164 rushing/receiving yards in LSU’s 2020 College Football Playoff title game victory over Clemson — is “it calms my heart rate. It lowers my heart rate, slows me down because it’s a slower song. I’m not a real big hype person before games.”
“Being able to get my nerves down will not only help me this game, but help me in all of them,” added first-round draft pick Edwards-Helaire. He gained 803 yards rushing, 297 yards receiving and scored five TDs for KC his debut season.
If the 5-foot-7, 207-pound, Edwards-Helaire needs more than music to settle down prior to his first Super Bowl, he can count on some counsel from guys who have been to the big game before.
“Through the year it’s been different vets depending on not necessarily the way I’m feeling, but kind of who came toward me that week or who I was reaching out to,” Edwards-Helaire said of those who assist him. “Mostly it’s mainly the offensive side of the ball. Darrel Williams (running back, who like Edwards-Helaire played at LSU) has been big for me as far as guys I’ve been leaning on pre-game and it’s been the whole year that way, just asking him different things about what we do.
“If it wasn’t Darrel, it’d be Trav (Travis Kelce, tight end) or Pat (Patrick Mahomes, QB). Then last but not least Tyrann (Mathieu, safety also out of LSU). He is always the guy in my ear no matter the situation.
“His locker is actually right across from mine. He tends to give me heads up on a lot of things. I have nothing but leaders around me,” Edwards-Helaire continued, noting RB Le’Veon Bell has also been somebody to give advice. “The guys I tend to reach out to always help me in a positive way.”
In other words, between Drake and his teammates, he feels he’ll be well-prepared Sunday running against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team he will not take lightly.
“They have a legendary front seven, very fast defense sideline to sideline, very good at stopping the run,” Edwards-Helaire said.
