KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Not long after Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach wrapped up a draft-recap video conference with local media, several national reporters who were not on the call suggested a deal with running back Jerick McKinnon was imminent.
Asked during the news conference about the possibility after the Chiefs didn’t select a running back in the draft, Veach appeared to crack a quick smile, but declined to break the news himself: “Obviously, we have a longstanding relationship with Jerick and we’ve had communication, so I wouldn’t be surprised if something got done with him soon.”
Clearly, Veach wouldn’t be surprised. Nor would Chiefs Kingdom after McKinnon led all NFL running backs with nine receiving touchdowns last season, totaling 803 yards from scrimmage in his second season with the Chiefs.
Roughly a half-hour later after Veach spoke with Kansas City-area reporters, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network said Kansas City was expected to re-sign McKinnon.
The #Chiefs are expected to re-sign RB Jerick McKinnon, whose re-emergence has been a revelation for KC. He gained 803 yards from scrimmage last year, the second-highest total in his career, with 10 TDs.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 1, 2023
GM Brett Veach alluded to this possibility with reporters just now.
His NFL Network colleague, James Palmer, said McKinnon would re-sign with the Chiefs on Tuesday.
McKinnon will be re-signing tomorrow with the #chiefs per source. He's back in KC. https://t.co/d4DDOSFyIx
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) May 1, 2023
In other running back news, Veach declined to answer a direct question about whether the Chiefs will exercise Edwards-Helaire’s fifth-year option. The deadline to do so is tomorrow.
“That’s another thing that will get addressed here soon,” Veach said.
But he did say that Edwards-Helaire remains part of the Chiefs’ 2023 plans.
“We’re excited for Clyde this season,” Veach said. “Actually, he was the first guy I saw in the building today — in tremendous shape. So, he’s a good football player; he’s going to help us out here.”
Still, exercising the fifth-year option seems unlikely, after Edwards-Helaire has missed seven games each of the last two seasons and also missed three games as a rookie in 2020 after Kansas City made him a first-round pick.
He’s rushed for fewer yards and produced few total yards from scrimmage in each of his three NFL seasons, not the kind of trajectory an NFL team considering a guaranteed $5.5-million deal next the 2024 season wants to see.
He’ll be in the mix with McKinnon, Isiah Pacheco and at least one more running back once again.
Pacheco, a seventh-round pick in 2022, wound up leading the Chiefs with 170 carries for 830 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie.
Kansas City also signed Tulsa running back Deneric Prince as an undrafted free agent after not addressing the position in the draft.
“Prince is a guy, we’re excited about him,” Veach said. “He’s a big kid that can really run. He ran one of the fastest 40 times at the Combine. He’s done a good job over the years working on the pass game.”
Prince originally signed with Texas A&M out of high school before transferring to the Golden Hurricane, where he rushed for 1,728 yards with 14 touchdowns in 26 games during the last three seasons before running a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.
“We believe in that room; it’s a good room,” Veach said.
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