In the world of Fantasy Football, everyone wants a piece of the Kansas City Chiefs offense. Led by head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, they are one of the most prolific units in the NFL.
Tight end Travis Kelce is still an elite option at tight end. There is a lot of hype surrounding their new wide receivers; free agent signing Marquise Brown and rookie first-round pick Xavier Worthy.
Out of the backfield, Isiah Pacheco has cemented himself as the team’s lead back. However, there is at least one more player with some value in Fantasy Football circles heading into training camp.
That player is running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire. In the opinion of Nathan Jahnke of PFF, the former first-round pick is one of the top five running back sleepers currently in the NFL.
“Edwards-Helaire had lost the starting job in Kansas City to Isiah Pacheco. Even when Pacheco was injured for parts of last season, Edwards-Helaire split time with Jerick McKinnon.
The veteran receiving back has plenty of experience on early downs, and there have been times when McKinnon was the backup early down back instead of Edwards-Helaire.
McKinnon is now 32 years old and the Chiefs opted not to re-sign him, at least to this point. The only other options on the depth chart are veteran Keaontay Ingram and sophomore Deneric Prince, both of whom spent most of 2023 on the Chiefs practice squad, and then a trio of undrafted rookies.
Edwards-Helaire should have a feature role for Kansas City if Pacheco gets hurt at any point,” Jahnke wrote.
Handcuffs are very important in Fantasy Football. You don’t want to be left without an option to turn to should one of your starting running backs go down with an injury.
For the Chiefs, they are one Pacheco injury away from Edwards-Helaire taking over a prominent role in the offense. While he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations since being the final pick of the first round in 2020, the potential is too much to pass up.
You can’t do much better than Edwards-Helaire as a late-round flyer. There isn’t much in the way of competition for touches behind Pacheco with McKinnon not being re-signed by the team to this point.
Even in a backup role, McKinnon would find a way to carve out some value in Fantasy Football. Edwards-Helaire is looking at a similar role for the Chiefs in 2024, and a potential lead back role should Pacheco miss time.
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