Who won Chiefs RB battle between Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Ronald Jones, Isiah Pacheco

The Kansas City Chiefs had hoped they were set at running back after the drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire after grabbing him late in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Unfortunately Edwards-Helaire hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. A pedestrian 4.4 yards per carry 12 missed games in his first two seasons in an offense that should give running backs fewer defenders to face on the line isn’t getting the job done.

Verdict

Clyde-Edwards Helaire will remain the starter going into Week 1 of the 2022 season.

The Chiefs haven’t given Edwards-Helaire much work in the preseason, which is a good sign for him to remain the starter. Ronald Jones seemed like a possibility to take over early down work, in Week 2 of the preseason he started the third quarter and didn’t get any rushing attempts. Rookie Isiah Pacheco was in the game after Edwards-Helaire left and he and Jerick McKinnon appear ahead of Jones. Jones could end up being cut, but an injury to Derrick Gore might have saved his roster spot.

Fantasy football implications

Edwards-Helaire has shown flashes at times and he’s by no means a lost cause for fantasy football. Will he share work? Most likely. He hasn’t seen big workloads so far in his career. We can expect McKinnon and Pacheco to be involved, but they don’t appear close to surpassing him on the depth chart.

Preseason Stats

Edwards-Helaire ran the ball twice in each preseason game so far, totaling 10 rushing yards. He has seen no receiving targets.