How Travis Kelce Has Helped Chiefs Teammate Clyde Edwards-Helaire amid His Struggles with PTSD

The running back detailed his physical and emotional struggles, and credited teammates, coaches and training staff for helping him

From Left: Travis Kelce; and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. PHOTO: GETTY(2)

Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire is speaking out about his struggle with PTSD
The athlete credits teammates Travis Kelce and Kadarius Toney for having his back
In media availability on Thursday, Aug. 1, Edwards-Helaire elaborated about a 2018 shooting involving him and his best friend

For Clyde Edwards-Helaire, playing football “is so much more than putting the pads on.”

In media availability following the Kansas City Chiefs training camp on Thursday, Aug. 1, the running back spoke out about those who have helped him through his recent physical and mental struggles — the latter of which includes PTSD — and credits teammate Travis Kelce with helping him cope.

“It’s really just mentally just not being there and it’s one of those things where early on — like guys who kind of pay attention, Trav [Travis Kelce], Kadarius [Toney] at times, they can even — they’ll know like ahead of time like, ‘Okay, Clyde might not — he’s not laughing, he’s not giggling, he’s not himself,” Edwards-Helaire, 25, told reporters, recalling how his teammates have said: “We just got to make sure we are checking on him as the person, not to just be out here the energy giver, the laugher, [or] the guy that kind of keeps the locker room going.”

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Edwards-Helaire opened up about his ongoing journey with PTSD in a post on X on Monday, July 29, prompting questions about it during the media availability on Thursday.

“Living With PTSD is no small feat, its hard and very overwhelming,” he posted on X. “Within the last month Ive Had many flare ups and the Amazing staff here at the #Chiefs have been helping me get through some tough times. I’ll be back rolling next Practice! All Love, Glydro.”

On Thursday, he elaborated about a 2018 incident in which he and his best friend shot and killed an 18-year-old who was trying to rob them.

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“I would say that’s probably where a majority of things stem from,” Edwards-Helaire said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say everything stemmed from that. I have best friends that passed away at young ages from gun violence and just not being in the right places at the right time and just knowing that I have people that are close to me or around me who … could be in the same spots that I am.”

The two-time Super Bowl champion also suffers from cyclic vomiting syndrome, which has landed him in the hospital from being dehydrated, he added.

“Sometimes I’m admitted into the hospital, something like I can’t stop throwing up and it’s just, I [don’t] know [anything] pretty much to stop it,” said the player, who was a Chiefs’ first-round draft pick in 2020.

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Yet having teammates to lean on, as well as a training staff and coaches on guard, have aided the fifth-year player. Speaking out is also helping, he said.

“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,'” he said. “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.’ It takes courage to talk about it and having PTSD and dealing with it once people kind of bring it up, it is not something that I’d always want to talk about. I never really know how my body will react or my mind, it is just something that I can’t really pinpoint or know exactly what’s going to happen.”

Edwards-Helaire added, “I feel like talking is a big thing, but it is just getting over that hump personally, being able to know that honestly, just everybody goes through things good [and] bad … It’s a stepping stone. I’m just 25 years old and trying to live the rest of my life healthy.”