Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach Deland McCullough is leaving his options open when it comes to his position group.
The team drafted LSU RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire at No. 32 overall. It was a move that excited Coach McCullough, who stayed in touch with Edwards-Helaire throughout the pre-draft process. He didn’t have control over the Chiefs’ draft pick, but he kept faith that Edwards-Helaire would be the guy.
“I like his short-area quickness, I like his ability to make guys miss in short spaces,” McCullough told reporters on Thursday. “I like the fact that he makes the first guy miss either by just outright making him miss or running through him. Probably the No. 1 thing, his disposition, his demeanor, and his football mind. He’s very smart. It has been evident in what we’ve seen in the combine process and everything leading up to the draft. He has not disappointed at all during the process with all the virtual meetings and that.”
McCullough isn’t interested in naming starters or hammering down roles for Kansas City. He believes all of that will work itself out once the players are able to get on the field. Right now, he’s committed to making sure that his players have the tools to do everything the offense requires of them.
“Everybody in this offense, all of the halfbacks need to be able to do everything,” McCullough said. “They need to be able to everything and everything will sort itself out from there. Clyde [Edwards-Helaire], he’s not going to be pigeon-holed — this guy is a third-down back or this guy is this or this guy is that. He’s going to take on everything that the offense has and then we’re going to let the chips fall where they may. . . Again a room full of great competitors, a bunch of great players, guys who can do a bunch of things. And the beauty of this is, once we’re able to get back on the field, we’ll be able to sort out where guys fall. In the meantime, every man in that room is preparing to do everything.”
Whether the Chiefs settle on a workhorse running back or a committee approach remains to be seen. McCullough, however, is confident that he has a room full of talented and capable players. He knows that they’ll all compete and collectively elevate the level of play for the position group.
“You want to get all these guys out there and get going and see what we’ve got,” McCullough explained. “One thing we know is just looking at some guys’ pasts and some snapshots we got of guys, whether it be DeAndre Washington, obviously with Darrel [Williams] and Damien [Williams], and Darwin [Thompson] with us. And then you look at where we draft Clyde [Edwards-Helaire] and what his body of work was in college, you know that we’ve got some high-end players. I know with the guys that are returning — [those are] some guys that we feel comfortable with. But again, you always want to continue to enhance the room and create competition and just raise the level of the room. I think that’s what we have done.”
Things sound about as close to an open competition as Kansas City has seen at the running back position as they’ve been in recent years.
“How it all shakes out ultimately, we’re going to let that play out on the football field,” McCullough said. “That’s the beauty of our game. We get a chance to go out and see what is what. The whole room knows that and these guys are looking forward to it. They get along well, very competitive, however, very supportive also. And they know at the end of the day, what they do is going to speak to where their role is when the season gets started. I’m looking forward to that.”
What McCullough’s players accomplish during the virtual offseason will help them once they’re finally able to hit the field. Guys are getting antsy, but if they take care of their business now, it’ll help once they finally get a chance to practice and compete with their teammates.
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