Chiefs RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s fantasy football outlook following Damien Williams’ opt out

Shockwaves rippled across the fantasy football world Wednesday afternoon when Damien Wiliams officially opted out of the 2020 NFL season. This was the first COVID-19 opt-out with significant implications for fantasy players.

While many have touted the potential upside of Clyde Edwards-Helaire since the Chiefs drafted him with the 32nd overall pick in the NFL Draft, others pointed out that he was not simply going to be handed the starting job for the Chiefs. Further, they emphasized that he was not entering a team without a capable incumbent. Williams has not been one of the top running backs in the league statistically and struggled with injury at times last season. He was even relegated to the second string for a time when LeSean McCoy was receiving the lion’s share of the work.

But Williams is a capable back, and he finally got his chance to shine in the Super Bowl. Many even thought he deserved to be the MVP of the Super Bowl when he went for 133 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns —including some key momentum-shifting plays. So it was clear to all who knew how Andy Reid operates that Edwards-Helaire was going to have to compete for touches, and Williams was going to remain a featured part of the offense, at least early in the season.

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon, and there is now no more Damien Williams for 2020. He has opted out, leaving the Chiefs with three primary backs who figure to get significant touches, barring any other moves being made: Edwards-Helaire, second-year player Darwin Thompson, and free-agent signing DeAndre Washington.

With the news, of course, I have altered my projections for fantasy football. Some of Williams’ anticipated receiving work (I had him projected for 30 receptions for 240 yards) I gave to DeAndre Washington, as I think he will be in for a fair amount of third-down work. I had Williams projected to receive 115 carries, and I split up that work between Edwards-Helaire and Darwin Thompson, whom I think will give the occasional breather in early-down work to CEH.

This shift caused a huge spike in my anticipated touches (and points) for Edwards-Helaire. He moved from a projected 142 carries to 197, and a projected 42 receptions to a projected 55. The total yardage I have him projected for increased from 1,130 to almost 1,500, and his touchdowns increased from 8 to 11.

All in all, here are my new projected stats for Edwards-Helaire:

This shift lands Edwards-Helaire within my top-five backs for projected points this season, meaning there is a good chance he will be selected early in the first round of drafts this fantasy season. He is an excellent all-around back on the best offense in football. Chiefs fans might soon see a return to the days of Priest Holmes, with the best running back in fantasy football playing in Kansas City.