Here is what national NFL experts said about Chiefs drafting Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Like every player whose name is called at the NFL Draft, time will tell if the Chiefs were wise to select LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire with the 32nd pick.
But national NFL writers and broadcasters think it was a great call. Here is what is being said about the Chiefs adding Edwards-Helaire.
USA Today’s Nate Davis picked the winners and losers of the first round. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was listed as one of the winners.
“Now he’s also got Edwards-Helaire in his quiver? “Greatest Show on Grass,” anyone?” Davis wrote.
Pete Prisco of CBS Sports gave the Chiefs a B-minus. He wrote: “I’m not a big fan of taking running backs in the first round, but when you have Patrick Mahomes it’s OK to take a running back like this in the first round. Reminds me of Maurice Jones-Drew.”
Peter Schraeger said the Chiefs won the first round of the draft on “Good Morning Football.”
Chad Reuter of NFL.com gave the Chiefs an A-minus. This is part of what he wrote: “I love Clyde Edwards-Helaire as a football player. He is tough, quick and strong. While not as fast as Jonathan Taylor or D’Andre Swift, he has the low center of gravity and power to be a truly effective NFL back. I wondered if he would sneak into the first round despite a pedestrian 40 time, not unlike Doug Martin several years ago.”
Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network shared this on Twitter:
Bleacher Report’s Mike Tanier gave the Chiefs an A. Here is part of what Tanier wrote: “(LSU quarterback) Joe Burrow rarely missed an opportunity to gush about Edwards-Helaire’s impact, and it’s easy to see why when you roll the tape. Edwards-Helaire has nearly teleportational quickness when jump-cutting, excellent vision when rooting through traffic and the hands and open-field running skills to be valuable on third downs. He also has just enough power and finishing burst to be useful between the tackles.”
Sports Illustrated’s Andy Benoit wrote in part: “A gripe with this pick is that you can almost always find a quality tailback in the middle rounds (yes, that old song) and there were good defensive backs still on the board. That includes Alabama’s Xavier McKinney, who would have been an excellent replacement (stylistically) for underappreciated departed free agent Kendall Fuller. But let’s remember: You don’t get the 32nd pick without doing a few things right as a franchise. It’ll be interesting to look back on this one a few years from now.”
ESPN’s Louis Riddick thinks the Chiefs offense is going to be even better next season:
Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports gave the Chiefs an A-minus. Here is an excerpt of what he wrote: “ Edwards-Helaire is a compactly built powder keg of a back, and an immediate contributor. This pick is a home run.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 12:02 PM.
