Chiefs waived RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Doug B said
This is the tough part for Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He has a lot of heart and a great motor, but he doesn't have that elite physical ability.

He's not a big guy built to absorb punishment. Not to say CEH is not tough ... just that he's smaller than people think -- about the same build as Dalton Hilliard, but a little shorter. In today's NFL, with defensive players heavier and faster than back in Hilliard's day, CEH was taking a lot of punishment that his body couldn't hold up against. He did have a good 2020 rookie season statistically -- but ended the year on IR. He lost six weeks of 2021 with a knee injury, the lost the last seven games of 2022 to another injury.

All that said: There's no reason that if his body has gotten right CEH can't have a successful second act as a complementary RB the way, say, Tim Hightower or Latavius Murray did (though those guys were a lot bigger). He can't be used as the Thunder to Kamara's Lightning, but CEH can spell Kamara here and there and provide guidance to younger guys in the RB room. Make an occasional spot start without being lost on his assignments.

Being a much smaller, shorter RB does present difficult, hard-to-overcome challenges for a guy who's body can't take being given the ball 25-30 times a game over entire NFL seasons as a premier weapon, which is what the Chiefs essentially thought they were getting back in 2020. I do agree with you that if CEH had played in the NFL 35-40 years ago, there's a decent chance he has a lot more success then now. Strangely I have seen quite a few RB's over the past 10-15 years, Doug that also didn't possess CEH's elite, play making abilities, and they ended up playing (and starting) a lot longer then he has. Some weren't too much taller then he was but were instead a lot more durable.