Arrowhead Pride
The Chiefs running back credits the organization with giving him the support he’s needed this season.
It was December 22, 2018— LSU freshman linebacker Jared Small had made arrangements to sell a Playstation 4 he received as part of the Tigers' participation in the 2018 Playstation Fiesta Bowl against the UCF Golden Knights.
Small was future Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire's teammate and best friend. Small told Edwards-Helaire that he was planning on meeting up with an individual — later identified as 18-year-old Kobe Johnson — who was buying the PS4.
The two men agreed to meet on Baton Rouge’s Northside. Small was unfamiliar with that part of town, but Edwards-Helaire grew up in the area, so he told his friend he would accompany him to help him find his way around.
Edwards-Helaire detailed the following events and his journey toward recovery from the ensuing trauma on the latest episode of “The Pivot” Podcast.
Edwards-Helaire said he was raised by his stepfather, Shannon Helaire, a police officer. Shannon taught his stepson how to own and handle a firearm responsibly. He trained Clyde in gun safety from an early age and went as far as having his son train with members of the Baton Rouge SWAT team. Because of this, Clyde says, he was carrying a firearm with him that day.
Unbeknownst to Clyde, the two men had not previously agreed on a price for the PS4. Once the pair of LSU players arrived to sell the console, Edwards-Helaire said Small and Johnson began to haggle over the price of the item, and before Edwards-Helaire knew what happened, he said Johnson pulled a gun and was aiming it at Small’s head.
“My only reaction was, either I’m about to watch my best friend lose his life,” recalled Edwards-Helaire, “or do something about it.”
Edwards-Helaire did something about it. He pulled the trigger and shot Johnson, killing him and saving his best friend's life in the process.
“You know, it was Jared or him — I honestly hate, hate, hate, how it went.”
Edwards-Helaire said he thinks about Johnson and Small daily and prays for them both.
“It’s a horrible feeling, I hope nobody ever has to go through the situation I’ve had to go through.”
Edwards-Helaire would spend the next few days locked up while the police tried to gather the details of the situation: first, he was in a jail cell and then later in a hotel with Small, where they were not allowed to leave the room or have their cell phones on them for three days.
A few days later, Edwards-Helaire found himself on the opposite side of the country in Glendale, Arizona, playing in the bowl game for which the players had received the PS4s. Edwards-Helaire returned the opening kickoff 77 yards, down to UCF’s 16-yard line.
Playing football became his respite from real life. But, as time passed, Edwards-Helaire’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) only got worse, and he said he struggled...
