3 Chiefs Positional Battles to Watch in Preseason Week 1

3. Running Back

What do we make of former first-round draft pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire?

Isiah Pacheco is the incumbent starter and while he’s expected to play Week 1, he still isn’t practicing fully. If the team limits his snaps early on, it’ll provide an opportunity for Edwards-Helaire and undrafted rookie Deneric Prince to see time early on.

https://twitter.com/BradHensonPro/status/1688945008739520513

Prince is listed as the starting kick returner and is a virtual lock to make the 53-man roster, while Jerick McKinnon is locked in as the third-down back after a spectacular second half of the year.

That leaves Edwards-Heliare, who has the highest pedigree in the running back room, as the potential odd-man out.

Especially if the Chiefs keep an extra receiver like Justyn Ross, they’ll have to make cuts elsewhere. I’ll be watching closely to see if Edwards-Helaire performs well on Sunday to show he deserves to stick around.

At the very least, a strong performance could give the Chiefs leverage to trade him to a team in need of running back depth when players are inevitably injured over the next few weeks.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.