Did Clyde Edwards-Helaire drop a hint about his return date to the Chiefs?

To make one thing clear right from the start: nothing is clear here.

No announcements have been made. No source has warned us. There are no rumors floating around. All we have is a somewhat cryptic post and our feeble attempts to understand it. Still, we’re curious enough to ask the question.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire recently (as of press time) made an intriguing post on Instagram that reads a bit cryptic, but still seems to suggest that his return could be soon.

Let’s take a look and maybe you can help us solve the puzzle:

This is an obvious photo of Edwards-Helaire in his Chiefs uniform with a short caption that reads: “22..5..⌛” On the surface, it might seem a bit like the former ABC drama Lost when you try to figure out what a sequence of numbers could represent. (Does anyone remember these numbers?)

Is there a deeper, hidden or intended meaning here? We can’t say for sure, but it leaves us guessing. That’s because it could line up with a potential return date for Edwards-Helaire in the near future.

While Edwards-Helaire’s number is currently 25, his jersey number during his college days at LSU was 22. From then on, week five will be the first week of the season that Edwards-Helaire will be eligible to play again. Officially, he began the year on the team’s NFI list, which forced him to sit out the first four games. After that fourth and final game (which is next weekend), CEH could be good to go. From then on, the last emoji is an hourglass, suggesting some sort of timeline or waiting period.

So it’s possible he’s pointing at himself and saying, “22 is coming in week 5. Just wait for it.” It’s also possible he was on the phone punching in random numbers. Or that it has nothing to do with us and we should feel stupid for even trying to understand it. We’re OK with that.

If Edwards-Helaire is ready to play in Week 5, things will get really interesting on the active roster. Carson Steele, Samaje Perine and Keaontay Ingram are ready for Week 3. Kareem Hunt will join the mix in Week 4, and the Chiefs have a bit more set-up next week. That should take Ingram out of the game. If Edwards-Helaire comes in after that, that means Steele or Perine or Hunt would make room to bring him in (or maybe Steele stays as FB and the Chiefs go four).

The problem will be compounded if Isiah Pacheco misses the minimum six games. That would set him back just a few games after Edwards-Helaire. At that point, the Chiefs will have an overabundance of options and some tougher decisions will have to be made – unless Perine or Hunt make it easy by playing poorly.

For now, all we know is that Hunt is on the roster and will provide momentum in Week 4. It’s possible Edwards-Helaire is saying he’s next in line and ready to roll down the runway, but that would require interpreting a cryptic social media post in a hopeful way.