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Former Chiefs running back gets a real chance for redemption by returning home to New Orleans

Former Chiefs running back gets a real chance for redemption by returning home to New Orleans

For many teams (and players) in the National Football League, the 2024 season is essentially over. The games are meaningless. The fates are set. The bubbles have burst and it’s only a matter of time before the clock strikes midnight in early January and hundreds of players can look forward to the long offseason.

But even for those players languishing on teams with no playoff hopes, there can be a lot to gain, and that’s especially true for former Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Edwards-Helaire has just two games left in his 2024 season as he is now with the New Orleans Saints, a recently returned player brought in to provide depth and more at a position that has struggled with injuries Help to provide (Alvin Kamara falls z one). For Edwards-Helaire, it was a chance for a homecoming, rejoining his home state’s only professional franchise and playing close to where he spent his college years in Baton Rouge at LSU.

The Chiefs let Edwards-Helaire go in early December to make room on the roster for other positions, as the backfield was clearly struggling without him. Despite being the team’s former first-round pick in 2020, the Chiefs, when healthy, were comfortable with a one-two punch of Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt and Samaje Perine providing snaps on obvious pass drops. Fullback Carson Steele was also available as a backup if needed.

As for Edwards-Helaire, the hype of being the first back selected in a draft that included Jonathan Taylor has always been a cloud surrounding the LSU star. Expectations were high – perhaps too high – and injuries and a poor fit on offense never allowed Edwards-Helaire to truly take off at the level most Chiefs fans envisioned in an offense that also featured Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill performed.

On Sunday, Edwards-Helaire could take his first snap away from Kansas City in the NFL. The Saints called him up from the practice squad to play for the franchise for the first time. It’s still uncertain whether he will be active on game day against the LA Raiders, but the team at least promoted him by placing center Erik McCoy and guard Lucas Patrick on injured reserve.

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