The Case for CEH

I know, the title rhymes… but I feel like that was a way to get you guys to read this article. I have been a CEH fan since he came out of college, and as we all know, through his first two years in the NFL it has not paid off. Even with him coming out of college, I had Clyde Edwards-Helaire ranked as the RB4 in that draft class (behind Swift, Taylor, & Dobbins), but when he went to the Chiefs in the first round, I was hooked. What better team to land on as a rookie than KC, behind arguably the best QB in the NFL and a team who can sniff the Super Bowl every year?

At first it looked very promising. In his first game as a rookie he went for 138 yards and a TD. Right away, we thought we would see another Kareem Hunt rookie season unfold before our eyes. Through the first 7 weeks of the 2020 season, he was RB9! Then he got banged up in Week 8, and things started to unravel. After Week 8, he left early in Week 9, only netting you 11 FPS, had a bye during Week 10, came back rested and looking strong in Week 11, giving you 20 points, but then would only turn in another game and a half until he was sidelined for the remainder of the season. 3.5+ missed games to end the season really killed his value. But when CEH was healthy, he was an RB1 his rookie year. And while I’m not saying he would have stayed there, he would have finished as a mid RB2, at worst.

Now let’s chat about his sophomore season. I will be the first to admit that it was not a great start (or season in general) for CEH, and he really needed to show up in Year 2. After having a very average Week 1 with 8 fantasy points, he came into Week 2 and fell on his face while losing a fumble. After Week 2, there were talks of CEH being benched or taking a back seat, but then he came out strong with 100 yards and a TD, even after losing yet another fumble. Week 4 comes, and he performs once again with 112 yards and another TD. And here we go again; is CEH legit and living up to the draft stock? Well, no. Because he gets hurt in Week 5 and misses 5 straight weeks after that. He then comes back before the bye in Week 11 and puts up a strong 15-point outing. He follows up the bye with 10-, 17-, 8- and 9-point games, until missing the last 2 weeks of the season. Not horrible games, but not close to games you want out of a first round pick. And once again, he missed several games in only his second season.

So far in this writeup, there have been a lot of ups-and-downs with CEH… and mostly downs with his injury concerns. I am going to go into the summer of his sophomore season real quick. He had gall bladder surgery in the summer of 2021 and went down to a weight of 160 pounds. Now this is an RB in the NFL, and that weight does not cut it at all. I have not been 160 pounds since I was in 7^th grade. And no, I was not fat, my mother said I was just husky, but that is a conversation for me and my therapist. Getting back to CEH, he was light as hell and skipped most of camp prior to his sophomore season. And let us not forget that his rookie year was during the prime of Covid, so he was not able to get a lot of work in that season either. My point is that he has not had a full offseason with the team until this summer going into the 2022 season.

The primary competition that was brought in for CEH was Ronald Jones. It is never a great sign when the team goes out and brings in another RB, but we know that Ronald Jones is not a superior RB, when they could have brought in guys like Fournette, Melvin Gordon, or even drafted an RB higher in the NFL draft. Darrell Williams was not brought back, and he was a guy who showed last year he could be just as capable, and at times even better, than CEH. They did eventually bring back McKinnon, but months later because… well why the hell not? RoJo sure as hell will steal early down work from CEH, but CEH should be used in the passing/3^rd down role with the offense. It is better he is no longer at 160 pounds and getting back to his 200-pound weight also. We know that RoJo is not a pass catching back by any means and struggles with pass protection, so there is no concern there.

There is no question that CEH has been a bust since coming into the league and I can admit that. It may be hard to admit since I was so high on him, but that is also another discussion to have with my therapist. I believe the reason many are done with CEH is because we never got the RB1 season we all wanted from him. I do not believe he will get to an RB1 tier, but could be a fine second RB/Flex play on your team. CEH is currently going in the 5^th round of redraft drafts as the RB26 off the board. This is the round I would love to draft CEH and despite camp buzz, he should not jump up in the coming weeks. Let’s stop comparing CEH to the RB1 he was supposed to be and embrace the discount you are getting him at this year. At the end of the day, even if I am wrong on this, you are getting him in the back end of the 5^th round instead of spending a first or second rounder on him which is where he went the last 2 seasons.

CEH now gets his first full offseason with the team and comes in with the weight of an actual NFL RB. The injury concerns are there I will not deny that, but other than a few guys in the league, every RB is injury prone. Let’s not forget that the team traded away Tyreek Hill this offseason. This is a guy who has been a high end WR1 for years and just last year, he demanded 159 targets. Those targets are now up for the taking and although they brought JuJu, MVS, and Skyy Moore in, it does not automatically mean they will all be distributed to them (Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle who combined for 101 targets are also gone). We have seen in the past that vacated targets usually help out RBs the most, and if CEH can solidify that pass-catching role with Mahomes and the Chiefs, then the sky is the limit.

That is my case for CEH this season and I will be riding that train one more time, even if it means I go down with the ship.