Let me clarify… dirty but well within the rules. Just bringing it up that the blocking seems a bigger cause for the failed run than when we originally thought ceh just shat the bed. Ceh has been good enough in run the clock out situations this year to give him some benefit of a doubt.
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Ok, I’ll have to rewatch. I was just focused on the block on the rewatch.

I still think Clyde has been ok in high leverage situations. When the defense is expecting run you don’t have to ask him to get too creative and he’s way better under center. In general he’s been good at saving himself from losses. He came short on that last one but he also had a few really solid short yardage pickups and he continues to be a decent weapon in the red zone. I think there’s a role for him. But it needs to be much smaller and more situational.
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Okay, if you want to argue semantics, fine, CEH is a first rounder. But you know as well as anyone that guys picked in the 30s aren't seen by most as the same as guys picked in the first 15 or so. It's just how it is. Heck, didn't a lot of draft prognosticators have Clyde going in the 2nd round, or at least not in the first?

Now I get that 1st rders are more expensive and they come with that 5-year option, so yeah, there's that difference.

And while Jerrick is a 7 year vet, he's only had one year in KC. And in KC the Rbs are expected to be able to run every route in a given play, whether it's X, Y, Z, H, whatever. I haven't followed McKinnon's career that closely, but isn't this time with KC the first time he's been asked to do anything like that?

Plus, his injury history. Which I honestly don't know how of that is taken into account by the staff, but it's a fact that Jerrick was played sparingly at times last season. Most of us thought his injury history had some part in that decision last year.

Now, it seems to me that McKinnon has been playing more on 3rd and longs overall this season, which does seem to go back to his increased familiarity with the playbook and the team. And he's looked like the best pass pro RB we have right now. Those considerations feel like the biggest reason he got certain snaps vs. LVR over Pacheco. Or CEH for that matter.

But I'm not Andy, so I'm just guessing.

All BS aside though, CEH isn't ever going to play up to his "first rounder" expectations. He's not going to be the next Marshall Faulk or whatever. He was picked in the first round, so some people are just going to have certain expectations because he was picked on Day 1. Even me, and I've tried to be optimistic about him since he was drafted.

But now he's finally healthy (and playing better than he has since his rookie year), with probably the best OL he's played behind since being drafted, excepting our OTs, and he's still struggling more than anyone would like to see.

Personally, i think he's in his own head too much. I think he's trying to run the plays the way they practice them, the way he's been asked to run them, but when something goes sideways he won't improvise; he tries to stay with the play design even when the blocking has fallen apart.

Look at that run by Jacobs someone posted. That play looks like it was designed to go to the right, but when he feels like the hole isn't there, or maybe he just saw the hole to the left, he instantly takes things into his own hands and breaks it off to his left for a big gain.

I haven't seen CEH improvise like that. maybe he can't. I feel like he has this season to break out and do something that makes him special. But I'm not holding my breath.
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Probably the proper way to hash this out woulda been, "yes, he's a 1st rounder technically. No, he wasn't a 1st rounder in terms of 'first round grade' considering Veach seems to have only about 15ish or so guys with a first round grade every year. Which would theoretically make him a 2nd round talent taken in the 1st.
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I haven't held Clyde to 'first rounder' expectations for over a season.

What I want is for him to at least be a positive asset and not a blank on a balance sheet. Give me more than the street free agent who wasn't drawing any interest after 2 waves of FA signings and/or the 7th round flier.

Give me SOMETHING now that you've been in the league 3 years. So far all I've seen is a guy who can produce if his OL is absolutely mauling the guys on opposite of them. Merely average OL play isn't enough to get average production from Clyde. You need elite OL play to get above average production from him.

Again - Clyde had the best blocking of any RB in football last year and actually yielded negative yards over expected. He's been openly bad at running the football. Nobody's asking him to be Jonathan Taylor out there but lord, at least give me Damien Harris. Give me SOMETHING I can use.
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My recollection is that Veach's glowing appraisals after the draft were essentially that he WAS a first round talent and easily the top guy on their draft board.

But it's all an exercise in turd polishing really - he's not played to a level commensurate with a top 100 pick. His been outplayed by literally every player to have gotten a similar opportunity in the Mahomes era. Hunt, Damien Williams and McKinnon. Even Darrell Williams was a more valuable player due to his short yardage use and the fact that he developed himself into a quality 3rd down back. Hell, even Shady averaged 4.6 YPC and was a quality pass catcher in limited opportunties. And as near as I can tell, MEH had the same fumble rate as Shady last season - it didn't get him buried.

He wouldn't be on the roster anymore if he weren't a 1st round pick.
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Chiefs sign RB Wayne Gallman
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You had me till the end there. I wouldn't go THAT far.
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Guys like Kenyan Drake, James Conner and Sony Michel have been freely available the last 2 seasons and have all had better production over that timespan than Clyde has had.

The Chiefs made no effort whatsoever to bring Darrel Williams back and he was showing himself to be superior to CEH in passing situations and equally bleh running the ball.

If they had invested in Clyde what they invested in Darrel (which is to say - nothing), I don't think he'd be here anymore. Frankly, he'd have never have gotten the amount of opportunities he's gotten to this point, or will evidently continue to get.

He's the living embodiment of divestiture aversion.
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Had this thought about the situation the other night: could Andy be trying to 'pad his stats,' to make CEH appear more valuable in a trade at the end of the season? Because I agree that CEH is probably not on the team next season if Pacheco stays healthy and no obvious weaknesses in his game pop up. I could be wrong, but it looks like Pacheco is the keeper going forward and CEH is bound for a new home in 2023.

So maybe someone thinks Andy can put some shine on CEH over the season and maybe get a little more for him than they would otherwise?
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The Chiefs dont run enough to prop any RB up.
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I mentioned high leverage situations. In short yardage with 3 yards or less to go or in the red zone he was 3 for 5 at getting a first down or a TD. And one of those he missed the end zone by inches. Of course that also includes the big miss on the final run.

It’s really the long down and distance where he’s been mostly atrocious. At least in games where the defense puts a tiny bit of effort into stopping the run
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Pacheco still needs to show more savvy running the football.

For the same reasons I give little weight to CEH 'dominating' (while not breaking 100 yards of 5 YPC against TB), it's hard to put too much stock in Pacheco cutting up TB that game.

The OL just fucking wrecked Tampa. And when that's happening it's easy to just run where you're pointed and be effective. That's not how most games go and so I think before we consider Pacheco a 'keeper' we need to see him do some work against lines that aren't getting blown off the LOS. That's where the rubber meets the road a bit.
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I'd pass the ball on 90% of first downs if the game were within 1 score. And then if the game gets spread one direction or another, run it on 1st downs as pure tendency breakers to try to scramble a few spreadsheets.

The first down runs drive me absolutely bonkers unless they come inside the 5 yard line.
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Yeah, that's a given. Just extrapolating the best potential scenario.

The more I think about it, I don't think they're trying to improve CEH's stock for a future trade. I don't remember Andy ever doing anything like that, for one.

I think it's more likely that Andy's just giving CEH a chance to show what he can do. This is his first year of being actually healthy, and having a decent OL at the same time.

Though statistically he's been better this season than any other. In week 1 vs. ARZ he averaged 6.0yds/att and a pair of receiving TDs, vs. LAC he went 8-for-74 yds on the ground for a 9.25yds average, and then of course against TB he went 19-for-92yds (4.84yds/carry) with both a rushing TD and one receiving. So yeah, he didn't do anything vs. IND or LVR, but he was pretty good in his other three games.
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