How Chiefs rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire has impressed Andy Reid in pass protection
The Chiefs were scheduled to play their third preseason game on Saturday (at the Cowboys), but that’s not happening because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some observers believe that no preseason games in the NFL could be detrimental to rookies. During a chat last week with NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci, Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked if he could properly evaluate rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s pass protection without preseason games.
Reid has been impressed with Edwards-Helaire in that area.
“Yeah, well, we haven’t changed the schedule that way,” Reid said. “So every day we work blitz and we have a blitz period, and we ask him to step in there and pick up blitzers and he does a nice job with it. And that is, that’s a tough thing, not only the actual physical part of it of blocking it, but identifying it and getting yourself into position, as you might have to slide across the line to pick somebody up, and still expand in the pocket after contact.
“So he’s working all of those things. You know, he’s blessed with great leverage and lower body strength, so that helps him, and he’s an explosive kid. So he’s got good core strength and in pass protection you need all those.
Mariucci also asked how Reid can keep all the Chiefs’ offensive stars happy. On any snap, the ball could go to Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson or Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
Reid said it begins by putting the team first.
“Well, we talk about that. There’s only one ball,” Reid said. “And so you’ve got to check your ego at the door the best you possibly can. I want you to want the ball, but we can only get it to one person. And so during the game plan, when we’re putting that together, we have opportunities for everybody potentially to get the football. We’re not going to go in and exclude somebody. That’s not how we roll with this.
“And so everybody has their plays. And, if we dial them up, go do your thing and score, right? That’s how we look at it. And we’ll continue to do that. Again, that’s one thing that you can determine. You can’t determine how the defense is going to play, they might take it away. But you can determine how many plays a player gets.”
Here is the entire conversation:
