Clyde Edwards-Helaire was expected to serve as the Chiefs' No. 2 running back entering the 2024 NFL season.
Instead, the 2020 first-round pick will begin the year on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness, knocking him out for at letast the season's first four games.
The Chiefs didn't address Edwards-Helaire's condition after placing him on the NFI list. That said, the veteran running back has been open about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which dates back to his time at LSU in 2018.
Here's what Edwards-Helaire has said about his battles with PTSD and more information about the disorder.
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What is PTSD?
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) defines PTSD as "a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event."
Anyone can develop PTSD, and the events that trigger the disorder can vary. The National Center for PTSD estimates that six out of every 100 people — or six percent of the population — will experience PTSD at some point during their lives. Women (eight of every 100) are more likely to develop the disorder than men (four of every 100).
An adult must have certain symptoms for at least one month before PTSD can be diagnosed. The symptoms come from the following categories, per NIMH.
- Re-experiencing symptom (at least one)
- Avoidance symptom (at least one)
- Arousal and reactivity symptoms (at least two)
- Cognition and mood symptoms (at least two)
The full description of the symptoms within each category can be found on NIMH's website.
Recovery from PTSD varies greatly, with some people recovering within six months of the event and others experiencing symptoms for a year or more. Many "have co-occurring conditions, such as depression, substance use, or one or more anxiety disorders," per NIMH.
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Clyde Edwards-Helaire's PTSD, explained
Edwards-Helaire revealed that he has PTSD after being questioned about missing several practices during the early stages of Chiefs training camp.
The 25-year-old posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had "many flare ups" over the past month and thanked the Chiefs for supporting him as he dealt with them.
Those flare-ups are often severe, as Edwards-Helaire described. He had to be hospitalized at times because of them, but he credits his teammates for being able to quickly being able to quickly recognize his symptoms.
"Sometimes I'm admitted into the hospital, something like I can't stop throwing up and it's just, I [don't] know [anything] pretty much to stop it,'' Edwards-Helaire said, per ESPN.
"Real bad dehydration ... but it's really just mentally just not being there. It is one of those things where early on guys who kind of pay attention like Travis [Kelce] and Kadarius [Toney], at times they can even, they'll know ahead of time like, 'OK, Clyde's not laughing, he's not giggling, he's not himself.'"
Edwards-Helaire pointed to Dec. 22, 2018 as the exact start date of his PTSD, according to ESPN. He didn't explain what happened in detail, but he said he and a friend found themselves in a "self-defense situation.
The Associated Press reported on Jan. 1, 2019 that Edwards-Helaire and then-LSU teammate Jared Small were attempting to sell an electronic item when an 18-year-old man tried to rob them at gunpoint. One of the two players fatally shot the man, Kobe Johnson. The police did not identify which player, and a Baton Rouge prosecutor argued the players "responded with justifiable force" to the threat.
Edwards-Helaire believes that incident may be the root cause of his PTSD, though he doesn't believe it was the only one that triggered it.
"I would say that's probably where a majority of things stem from,'' Edwards-Helaire said, per ESPN. "I wouldn't necessarily say everything stemmed from that. I have best friends that passed away at young ages from gun violence and just not being in the right places at the right time and just knowing that I have people that are close to me or around me who ... could be in the same spots that I am.''
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Edwards-Helaire used to think the best course of action was to try to "block everything out."
Now, he feels like talking about his battles against the disorder represents a big step as tries to deal with the condition.
"My first couple of years, you just try to block everything out and it's like, 'Oh, at some point I'm going to get over it,'" he said. "And you start to realize that that just doesn't happen. You get older and you realize, 'Hey, no matter the age, no matter the person, no matter the situation, everyone needs help at some point.' It takes courage to talk about it and having PTSD and dealing with it once people kind of bring it up, it is not something that I'd always want to talk about. I never really know how my body will react or my mind, it is just something that I can't really pinpoint or know exactly what's going to happen.
"I feel like talking is a big thing, but it is just getting over that hump personally, being able to know that honestly, just everybody goes through things good [and] bad ... It's a stepping stone. I'm just 25 years old and trying to live the rest of my life healthy."