Chiefs make decisions on Jerick McKinnon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire

The Kansas City Chiefs have to feel great about their running back room.

Isiah Pacheco was a star as a rookie, rushing for 830 yards and five touchdowns while playing a major role for a Super Bowl-winning team. Jerick McKinnon is also as solid as they come as a veteran backup running back.

In fact, calling McKinnon a backup running back is basically an insult. He's also a prolific pass-catcher out of the backfield, and his abilities through the air were a major asset for Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Kansas City's offense in 2022.

As such, it's being reported that the Chiefs have re-signed McKinnon for one more season.

This is now the third one-year contract McKinnon has signed with Kansas City, but he's proved himself every time. He rushed 72 times for 291 yards and a touchdown last season while adding 56 catches for 512 yards and nine touchdowns through the air.

In a likely corresponding move, Kansas City has declined to pick up the fifth-year team option on running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Coming out of LSU as a first-round draft pick for K.C. in 2020, Edwards-Helaire showed great promise as a rookie, but injuries have derailed each of his three seasons. He played in only 10 games each of the past two campaigns, but he was usurped by Pacheco on the depth chart this season anyhow.

Edwards-Helaire will carry a $3.4 million cap hit for this season, but if he doesn't prove himself worthy of another contract — and he does have an uphill battle ahead of him — he'll be off Kansas City's books in 2024.