‘I write my own narrative’: On Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s big game for Chiefs vs. Patriots
Following a rare appearance peering over a podium as one of a few Chiefs designated for the postgame media news conference, Clyde Edwards-Helaire made his way out of the room as Patrick Mahomes was waiting to enter.
“Jump-Ball Clyde,” the animated Mahomes called Edwards-Helaire as he greeted him in the hallway.
The reference was to CEH springing, lunging and otherwise unspooling about every inch of his perhaps 5-foot-7 frame to haul in the pivotal 6-yard touchdown pass that gave the Chiefs a 24-10 lead on the way to their 27-17 victory over New England on Sunday.
The play was striking in itself. And for its place in a victory vital to the Chiefs (9-5) resetting, or at least starting to reset, down the stretch after losing three of their last four.
But it also made for a telling parallel about the path Edwards-Helaire has navigated after losing his starting position last season to then-rookie Isiah Pacheco. Relegated to a plainly secondary role, he had come to seem a shadow of what the Chiefs had anticipated when they used their 2020 first-round NFL Draft pick to select him No. 32 overall.
As the play unfolded and Mahomes was flushed out of the pocket, Edwards-Helaire adapted, read his keys and the defenders and knew to get to the back of the end zone.
“From that point,” he said, “I kind of knew Pat was going to roll my way since I was the hot (read) answer.”
He was ready, in other words, and knew what to do.
Presto: Air Helaire.
Other than with Travis Kelce and, increasingly, Rashee Rice, that sense of trust and being on the same page has been in short supply this season and certainly not to be taken for granted.
But that wasn’t the only way in which CEH, filling in nimbly for the injured Pacheco, was a hot answer for the Chiefs on Sunday.
“Man, I love that dude. I love that dude,” Kelce said. “He’s been playing his tail off, waiting for his opportunities, and when he gets his opportunities, he’s making the most of them.
“He’s the unsung hero for today. That’s for damn sure.”
Including with his 48-yard reception on a picture-perfect screen setup with three men paving his way.
That made for the Chiefs’ longest gain from scrimmage since Oct. 22 against the Chargers and was the longest reception of his NFL career (previously 29). With 101 yards overall (37 rushing), CEH led the Chiefs in yards from scrimmage and had his most productive day since amassing 118 yards against the Chargers on Sept. 15, 2022.
A lot like what the Chiefs had hoped for when they drafted him out of LSU.
But now not bad for a guy many had come to dismiss.
And that’s what the bigger message of his day is.
Not just in terms of himself, really, but in the sense of a bigger perspective about approach even when you might think you’ve become an afterthought.
“It’s just one of those things,” he said. “It’s the NFL. Everybody kind of has their own story. Or has their own say-so about it.
“But I’m Clyde Edwards-Helaire. And I write my own narrative. I write my own story.”
As it happens, you don’t do that by sulking over playing time.
Instead, he made a point of saying he appreciates that coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach have stayed with him when they “could have gone any direction that they wanted to.”
Instead, he not only always has a smile on his face, per Mahomes, but is “always making other people smile.”
“He’s been an energy giver,” Reid said, “which you need.”
So he never complains and comes to work with some bounce and juice. From the locker room, to meeting rooms or on the practice field — where last week he sought redemption with Mahomes for a dropped pass against Buffalo.
Throw the ball up, he remembered telling him, and “I promise I’m going to come down with it no matter what the situation.”
To back that up, CEH said every time he scored in practice he tried to dunk the ball over the goalpost.
Playful as it might have been, along the way, he figured everyone could see he was getting up higher and reckoned they might become persuaded he can really jump and isn’t “just some small guy on the field.”
Apparently, he needn’t have worried: His stature is revered because of how he goes about it all — particularly considering how he’s behaved in the background more than foreground and while a lightning rod for criticism.
“When you get a lot of people piling on you and you don’t have the success that you want, you could be down,” said Mahomes, noting that CEH’s upbeat demeanor and strong work ethic explains “why we want to see him succeed.”
Much of that seems to stem from a conscious decision CEH made over the last year.
Step back, he said, and think about what’s just business and what he could control.
Within that grasp, we’ve heard it said plenty, are your attitude, effort and actions.
With that, he came to figure “at some point the opportunity was going to show up again. And it’s a matter of how you conquer that opportunity and take advantage of it.”
So when everyone might have figured he was “in the dumps,” well, he was on what he called his “highest horse” as he considered all he had not just with the Chiefs but in life — including getting engaged over the summer.
“You take whatever is the light in a situation,” he said, “and you brighten it up.”
He did just that for the Chiefs on Sunday, to be sure, and certainly bolstered faith in their depth through the end of the season.
Because no matter what his future might be with the team, he also is treating the future like it’s now.
And that statement perhaps says something more about the makeup of this team.
“Clyde is a hell of a competitor, man,” Marquez Valdes-Scantling said. “To be in this position where he was in — being a first-round pick to Isiah coming in and being a different spark — it was him being a great teammate. Then when his number gets called, he just makes a play every single time.
“It’s the same thing with every running back in that room. They support each other. There’s no jealousy. There’s no animosity. I think you can appreciate that.
“From the outside looking in, guys may not see those kinds of things. But that’s a really close group, and having guys like that support each other, no matter who’s getting the ball, it pays off at the end.
“And now, this is his turn again, and he’s making the best of it.”