Marquise "Hollywood" Brown won't be the only notable name missing from the Kansas City Chiefs' lineup when the reigning Super Bowl champions open the 2024 NFL season on Thursday. Days ahead of their first game, the Chiefs have placed running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire on the non-football illness (NFI) list, as ESPN reported, guaranteeing at least a four-game absence due to an apparent mental health issue.
Edwards-Helaire, 25, had been intermittently absent from the Chiefs' summer programming, including training camp and preseason games, due to what the team officially designated an illness. The former first-round draft pick later revealed the condition to be a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from his time at LSU, when he was one of two players involved in a fatal self-defense shooting.
"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,'" Edwards-Helaire said of his condition earlier this summer. "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.'"
By landing on the NFI list, the running back won't be eligible to take the field for the Chiefs until Oct. 7, when Kansas City hosts the New Orleans Saints in Week 5. In the meantime, veteran reserve Samaje Perine, who just joined the team after stints as a No. 2 back with the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos, is likely to serve as the club's top complement to starting ball-carrier Isiah Pacheco. The Chiefs also have undrafted rookie Carson Steele, who starred as a fullback in the preseason, on the active roster.