Chiefs 1st-Round Playmaker to Miss at Least 4 Games Due to Mental Health Crisis

The Kansas City Chiefs will be without running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire for at least the first month of the season due to a non-football illness (NFI) designation.

Field Yates of ESPN was among the first NFL insiders to report the news via social media on Monday, September 2.

"The Chiefs have placed RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire on the reserve/non-football illness list," Yates posted to X . "As a result, CEH is now out for at least four games. Makes the addition of Samaje Perine that much more important for the champs."

Edwards-Helaire is battling the same issue that kept him out of large portions of the preseason and that has plagued the running back since his college days at LSU -- a bout with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

His ongoing mental health battle stems from an incident in December 2018, when an armed assailant attempted to rob Edwards-Helaire and teammate Jared Small in North Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Edwards-Helaire responded by shooting and killing the assailant, Kobe Johnson, with a legally registered weapon. Police never charged Edwards-Helaire, deeming the shooting justified as a matter of self-defense, per The Athletic .

“With that happening at such a young age, my first couple years I tried to block everything out, like, ‘At some point, I’m going to get over it,'” Edwards-Helaire said. “Then you start to realize that just doesn’t happen. You get older and you realize no matter the age, the person, the situation, everyone needs help at some point."

The Chiefs granted Edwards-Helaire that help and may have had a sense they would be without the former first-round pick (No. 32 overall in 2020) for a meaningful stretch, as they pursued former All-Pro and ex- Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs over the offseason.

Kansas City has also been floated as a potential trade partner for players like Najee Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers , who is entering the final year of his rookie contract and bound for unrestricted free agency next March.