****The Clyde Edwards-Helaire Thread*****

[Dante84]

More to come! (I'll clean it up later - info dump into the OP)

(mod edit, all the goodness is in the spoiler tags)

Spoiler!

LET'S GEUAX!#NFLDraft on ESPN/ABC/NFLN pic.twitter.com/2dMSjTR9R9

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 24, 2020

Congratulations to my son. Mere words can’t explain the joy in my heart and soul. This was an EPIC moment & Well deserved. What GOD has for you ; it’s for you!❤️����
WE ARE CHIEFS ‼️❤️@Clydro_22 @NFL @NFLDraft @LSUfootball @Chiefs @Espn @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/Pjo2SMLmM9

— Tonge' Helaire (@HelaireTonge) April 25, 2020

�������� pic.twitter.com/9ZnxzAaZ4z

— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) April 24, 2020

Some fun here. Edwards-Helaire rushed for 1,415 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior .. all-purpose yards -- receiving (55 receptions, 453 yards) and kick returner (KEY) 10 returns, 214 yards pic.twitter.com/3Duq1jjy6J

— Harold R. Kuntz (@HaroldRKuntz3) April 24, 2020

Oh look, an extensive film review of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who I wrote a few days ago is a PERFECT fit for Andy Reid's offense.

Also... @jbbrisco... Oh man. Oh. Man. ��⚡️https://t.co/g6lbNonQ1o

— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) April 24, 2020

With the 32nd pick, the #Chiefs select Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, LSU

• PFF Big Board #4 RB, #81 Overall

• #1 Run Grade among NCAA RBs (92.0)

• Led SEC RBs in rush yards, receiving yards, rush TDs & YPC

• NFL Comparison: Ray Ricehttps://t.co/eQoKvEmIss#ChiefsKingdom

— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) April 24, 2020

You got a good one, @chiefs

CLYDRO pic.twitter.com/WyxKVgwTwS

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) April 24, 2020

Holy offense Bat Man. I love Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He is best Rb in the draft. Watkins and Hill deep. Kelce in the middle. And Edwards-Helaire underneath. Good Luck defenses.

— Chris Simms (@CSimmsQB) April 24, 2020

Brett Veach told Andy Reid to watch some Clyde Edwards-Helaire film and told Reid you’ll see Brian Westbrook. Reid watched. Then got back to Veach and said he’s better than Westbrook.

— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) April 24, 2020

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

His running style is an odd mix of Bell and Barry Sanders.

I don't really know how to describe it (and no, he doesn't have the talent of Sanders, who was truly one of a kind), but that sort of patience and jittery approach reminds me a bit of both of them.

I can't really find a good single player comp. If I had to name a single guy I guess it would be Bell, but I don't recall Bell being as stop/start in the open field.

I think he gets the Sproles comp from stature and strengths more than style. He's a short pass catching back with a good first step, so Sproles springs to mind. But I don't see Sproles in how he moves in the open field.

I get the Sanders angle but my original point was he has a little of each and that in itself is really amazing to me.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

His running style is an odd mix of Bell and Barry Sanders.

I don't really know how to describe it (and no, he doesn't have the talent of Sanders, who was truly one of a kind), but that sort of patience and jittery approach reminds me a bit of both of them.

I can't really find a good single player comp. If I had to name a single guy I guess it would be Bell, but I don't recall Bell being as stop/start in the open field.

I think he gets the Sproles comp from stature and strengths more than style. He's a short pass catching back with a good first step, so Sproles springs to mind. But I don't see Sproles in how he moves in the open field.

Sproles was a brain fart because I read his name before posting.

I meant to say Kamara and Ingram. I know that might sound a bit weird/lazy, but he played both roles in that Brady offense and when you keep that in mind and watch him he kind of just feels like the two put in a blender (obviously more Ingram in terms of size (not height obviously) and speed). It’s admittedly lazy, but he’s a difficult guy to find a good one for.

I like the Bell comparison too though given his patient running style and ability as a pure receiver.

Honestly, he’s got a lot of great qualities that make him comparable to many of these guys though. Can’t wait to see him.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by Stryker

I get the Sanders angle but my original point was he has a little of each and that in itself is really amazing to me.

Clyde is built more like Sproles with weight distribution while Barry's weight was all in his legs

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Sproles was a brain fart because I read his name before posting.

I meant to say Kamara and Ingram. I know that might sound a bit weird/lazy, but he played both roles in that Brady offense and when you keep that in mind and watch him he kind of just feels like the two put in a blender (obviously more Ingram in terms or size and speed). It’s admittedly lazy, but he’s a difficult guy to find a good one for.

I like the Bell comparison too though given his patient running style and ability as a pure receiver.

Honestly, he’s got a lot of great qualities that make him comparable to many of these guys though. Can’t wait to see him.

Do you think that CEH runs as hard as Ingram does?

He's sturdy but didn't think there was that much power in CEH's running style.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Man. Thank you for sharing this.

The third clip they show is astounding. He nearly makes three defenders miss in the backfield. It was a modest gain, but I don’t think I’ve seen any other back move laterally with such fluidity as CEH.

One of his pros in the video is, “Able to make a defender miss in a phone booth,” and that is absolutely true. Never heard that phrase before, but it is a perfect description of how hard he is to get ahold of.

Another takeaway from this clip that I hadn’t noticed before is the direction he is looking throughout his cuts behind the backfield - Upfield at all times. His peripheral vision and processing speed appear to be near-Mahomes level.

When he and Mahomes get on the same page and begin to see the same things, look the hell out.

Is it time for football yet?

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by JakeF

Do you think that CEH runs as hard as Ingram does?

He's sturdy but didn't think there was that much power in CEH's running style.

He's not as powerful as Ingram, but he does have decent power for a RB who's 5-7. It's a leverage thing... he can get under pads and win the leverage contest, which lets him create yards after contact and drive defenders forward.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by JakeF

Do you think that CEH runs as hard as Ingram does?

He's sturdy but didn't think there was that much power in CEH's running style.

He’s not as big, but relative to his size? Yea I think it’s comparable.

A man who will make even the best tackler miss in a phone booth, Edwards-Helaire broke 70 tackles on just 214 carries this season while gaining 782 of his 1,419 yards after contact

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

Man. Thank you for sharing this.

The third clip they show is astounding. He nearly makes three defenders miss in the backfield. It was a modest gain, but I don’t think I’ve seen any other back move laterally with such fluidity as CEH.

One of his pros in the video is, “Able to make a defender miss in a phone booth,” and that is absolutely true. Never heard that phrase before, but it is a perfect description of how hard he is to get ahold of.

Another takeaway from this clip that I hadn’t noticed before is the direction he is looking throughout his cuts behind the backfield - Upfield at all times. His peripheral vision and processing speed appear to be near-Mahomes level.

When he and Mahomes get on the same page and begin to see the same things, look the hell out.

Is it time for football yet?

His elite stop-start-burst is going to make him so, so dangerous for KC. Those are the skills that make him so effective in short areas (phone booths).

Just think about his use in KC's favorite formation - trip WR to left, Kelce to right. You can stack CEH to either side of Mahomes in that formation and turn him loose on all sorts of dangerous routes (out, drag, arrow, smash to trips side).

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

His elite stop-start-burst is going to make him so, so dangerous for KC. Those are the skills that make him so effective in short areas (phone booths).

Just think about his use in KC's favorite formation - trip WR to left, Kelce to right. You can stack CEH to either side of Mahomes in that formation and turn him loose on all sorts of dangerous routes (out, drag, arrow, smash to trips side).

It's the vision that will make him so dangerous. Not necessarily explosive, but he'll be a little like water over rocks in that he'll just slowly grind out efficient production.

The way he sets up defenders and helps out his blockers is pretty remarkable. You can watch videos like that and see a half-dozen different plays where Williams would've just taken 2-3 yards and CEH turned it into 6-8.

Now there will be times that he turnes 4-5 into 0 trying to do that. And there will be runs where Williams could've found a corner and exploded for 40+ where CEH maybe gears down, makes a couple of moves and ends up at 12-15. He's not a perfect back in that regard.

But his skill set will be put to its highest and best use in this offense. Like I said during/after the draft - there are some RBs taken after him who will be better for the team that took them than CEH would've been - I'm okay with that. Because I don't think any of them would've been better for US.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's the vision that will make him so dangerous. Not necessarily explosive, but he'll be a little like water over rocks in that he'll just slowly grind out efficient production.

The way he sets up defenders and helps out his blockers is pretty remarkable. You can watch videos like that and see a half-dozen different plays where Williams would've just taken 2-3 yards and CEH turned it into 6-8.

Now there will be times that he turnes 4-5 into 0 trying to do that. And there will be runs where Williams could've found a corner and exploded for 40+ where CEH maybe gears down, makes a couple of moves and ends up at 12-15. He's not a perfect back in that regard.

But his skill set will be put to its highest and best use in this offense. Like I said during/after the draft - there are some RBs taken after him who will be better for the team that took them than CEH would've been - I'm okay with that. Because I don't think any of them would've been better for US.

The vision is elite, for sure. It complements his elite short-area quickness and elusiveness perfectly.

He's going to make KC much more efficient in grinding out drives when teams play nickel/dime and play quarters or cover 3 to take away the deep shots.

Even in a dime set, it's hard to envision a team really matching up effectively against all of KC"s options. Let's take the Chargers, for example.

So in their dime set, they'll likely running a "big" dime with Derwin James lined up in the box as a de facto LB, with Adderly and Jenkins playing traditional safeties. Nick Vigil or Murray is the MLB, with their typical front 4.

Now, if you're dropping into zone, KC is really elite against that and now has a versatile underneath weapon in CEH to eat up yards in the flats or underneath the zone. His vision and elusiveness will make the run game more efficient, especially when there's only one true LB on the field.

If you're trying to man up out of that and doubling Kelce and Hill (something they and others mixed in frequently) you figure James and one of the S are bracketing Kelce. Heyward and the other S are bracketing Hill. That leaves Watkins matched up against one of Chris Harris Jr or Desmond King, Hardman or Robinson against the other, and Vigil to account for CEH in the passing game.

That's going to be a win all day for KC. Even if Hardman and Watkins don't "Win" you can just murder them with intermediate chunk plays to CEH.

I don't think there's an NFL team who has the back 7 talent to try to counter KC like the Chargers do. And if they can't "man up" and expect consistent success, no one can.

It's going to be really interesting to see how teams try to counter the Chiefs now. Drafting CEH was a definite reaction, IMO, to what teams had experienced the most success against KC with... forcing them to go on longer, slower drives, and hoping you can pop a negative play or 2 against the run and make a drive stall out.

[RunKC]

Young LeSean McCoy and MJD. This kids feet are lethal in short areas the same as Shady’s were.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

One of the things about him that jumps out for me is how he squeezes every last yard out of his touches. Sure his open-field cuts, vision, and quickness are off-the-charts, but for a relatively small guy even while being tackled he's still cutting to the most open area to get an extra yard or two. He's almost always lunging forward while being tackled, you don't see him getting driven backward often, especially for his size. Picking up an extra yard or two to keep a drive alive once or twice a game can add up huge over the course of a season.

[notorious]

Emmitt Smith with better lateral movement.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

One of the things about him that jumps out for me is how he squeezes every last yard out of his touches. Sure his open-field cuts, vision, and quickness are off-the-charts, but for a relatively small guy even while being tackled he's still cutting to the most open area to get an extra yard or two. He's almost always lunging forward while being tackled, you don't see him getting driven backward often, especially for his size. Picking up an extra yard or two to keep a drive alive once or twice a game can add up huge over the course of a season.

That's the leverage thing Duncan alluded to in action.

You can't get under him. So he's able to keep his feet chopping and that will usually yield an extra yard or two. The other thing that helps is the nimbleness. You look at how he finished some of those runs and it's clear that the defender was trying not to over-commit to the tackle so he ends up absorbing the blow from CEH rather than delivering it. And that's gonna end up with him ceding ground for a step or two and then giving up another few yards at impact.

A guy like Williams, if you have the angle on him, you just attack because he's not gonna shuffle and blow your angle up to leave you grasping at air. But with CEH you just can't do that. You have to stay cautious and if you're reacting rather than acting, you'll end up going backwards a bit.

[Kiimo]

Originally Posted by notorious

Emmitt Smith with better lateral movement.

I'm actually surprised that comparison isn't made more. That's immediately who I thought of.