As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. The Chiefs made Clyde Edwards-Helaire the only running back taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Why? Well, according to head coach Andy Reid, he could be “better than Brian [Westbrook].” What can we expect from him in his rookie campaign?
Clyde Edwards-Helaire ADP and AAV:
Standard Scoring ADP: RB17, 34 overall
PPR Scoring ADP: RB15, 27 overall
Average Auction Value: $33
Clyde Edwards-Helaire Statistics:
Currently leading the league in hype, and fantasy football draft price inflation. Other than that, no NFL statistics to report.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire Overview:
Clyde Edwards-Helaire was a monster in his final season at LSU. That’s not surprising… everyone was a monster at LSU last year. You can say whatever you want about CEH, that he’s reminiscent of Maurice Jones-Drew, that he immediately becomes one of the better running backs in the league, or that he has zero challenge for RB1 touches in Kansas City. This is all I am going to say about this is… Andy Reid, one of the greatest coaches and personnel guys of the last quarter-century has taken exactly one running back in the first round: Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
Then you get the Damien Williams Truthers, who think that he’s staving off CEH. He might for the first few games of the season, but we all know what Damien Williams is at this point. He’s not durable, he’s not dependable, and he’s not a team’s RB1. Go ahead and throw partial season stats at me again and make excuses about how he was hurt. The team has consistently tried to supplement and replace Williams, and finally did one or the other with CEH. Worst case scenario, CEH is the starter and is getting the bulk of the downs by week four. His pass-catching ability makes D-Willy’s #1 trait redundant.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire Draft Strategy:
Clyde Edwards-Helaire Auction Value: $45
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming late June)
I was all-in on CEH when he was a mid-third round value. Now, he’s inching into the first round, and I… I can’t countenance that price for a rookie running back. This is a situation where I am okay being wrong about a guy, because CEH’s upside is that he’s a first-round pick. His downside is much worse. I will take him in the second round (after all, I don’t like Damien Williams and I pegged him as a fourth-rounder last year when he was going in the second). Remember what we did about and what we thought about Damien Williams? People threw him into the second round. There’s no reason why CEH shouldn’t get the same treatment. He’s like 2019 Damien Williams… If 2019 Damien Williams was actually good and could stay healthy.
Best Case Scenario:
He performs so well that he enters the discussion in the first-half of the first-round next year. Damien Williams is relegated to the nether realm.
Worst Case Scenario:
Damien Williams gets 12-15 touches a game and plays a whole season at that volume for the first time in his career.
[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com and airyards.com]
