Chiefs GM Brett Veach on how and when Clyde Edwards-Helaire first caught his eye
New Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire doesn’t possess blazing speed.
At the NFL Combine, Edwards-Helaire ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash, which didn’t crack the top 10 fastest.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach knew Edwards-Helaire wasn’t a blazer before the Combine, and it’s why Veach didn’t expect much when he sat down to scout the former LSU running back.
“It is funny when we got together prior to the Combine and we had a chance to (see) the running back sheet,” Veach said earlier this week on “The Colin Cowherd Show.” “The first thing you do is to see the measurables, so you see a kid that’s 5-7 and change and 200 pounds and not a blazer.
“Not a 4.3 or 4.4 guy so you’re thinking yourself, ‘Alright, smaller running back, 4.5, 4.6, all right, let’s just get through the tape and we’ll be on to the next guy.’ “
Everything changed for Veach when he watched the first tape of Edwards-Helaire, who became The Guy. The Chiefs drafted Edwards-Helaire with the final pick of the first round.
“All of a sudden you put on the tape and ... he’s one of those guys that you can’t wait to get to the next game and the next game,” Veach said.
Veach compared Edwards-Helaire to a former Chiefs running back who has 11,071 career rushing yards.
“He’s got rare vision and rare instincts and some guys are just born with that,” Veach said. “You can’t really point to a specific game or play, it’s just his body of work. Again, it’s something he was born with. I think we saw that in LeSean McCoy. You know, LeSean McCoy wasn’t a 4.3 guy and he wasn’t 225 pounds but he just has the ability to understand where the holes are going to open, and he plays the game in slow motion, anticipates very well and that’s what we saw with Clyde, a guy who’s a natural football player and those types of guys are hard to find.”
Cowherd also asked Veach if the big payouts to quarterback Patrick Mahomes and defensive lineman Chris Jones have put financial constraints on the Chiefs. Does Veach feel more pressure to get draft picks right because of salary-cap constraints.
“Sure and I think not only just the draft picks just anytime you have the opportunity to acquire talent on the waiver wire or any transactional period, I mean we have to be good,” Veach said. “We saw that last year and we had some defensive ends go down and some offensive lineman go down, but not just the draft but your practice squad has to be on point. Your emergency board during the season when guys get injured has to be on point because you certainly just can’t go out there and have big free-agent spendings now because of the talent that we have on our roster.
“But certainly the draft is is the main area to secure some cheaper talent. But also again practice squads, waiver wires, claims, we have to be on point with all those things.”
Here is the entire interview:
