Chiefs Activate Edwards-Helaire for Super Bowl vs. Eagles; Mecole Hardman Out Injured

The Kansas City Chiefs will be getting one playmaker back for Super Bowl LVII, but losing another.

The team announced on Monday that running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire has been activated ahead of Sunday's game, but wideout Mecole Hardman has been placed on the reserve/injured list.

While Isiah Pacheco has been very solid for the Chiefs this season (830 rushing yards, five touchdowns), getting back Edwards-Helaire will give the team another weapon out of the backfield.

The third-year back rushed for just 302 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games this season, adding 17 catches for 151 yards and three scores on 23 targets in the passing game. He hasn't played since Week 11 with a high ankle sprain, though Pacheco had displaced him as the starter by that point anyway.

Hardman, 24, has seen his season cut in half because of injuries. A pelvic injury ended his regular season after Week 9, and he also missed the team's divisional-round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He did return for the AFC Championship Game, however, notching two catches for 10 yards and two rushes for seven yards.

But he reaggravated the injury in the win over the Cincinnati Bengals and will now miss the Super Bowl.

That costs Kansas City one of its more dynamic playmakers in space. Hardman caught 25 passes for 297 yards and four scores in the regular season, adding four carries for 31 yards and two touchdowns.

While he has never been the Tyreek Hill clone the team was likely hoping for when he was drafted in 2019—and nobody on the Chiefs has replaced that production since Hill's trade to the Miami Dolphins last offseason—Hardman was still the type of potential big-play threat the Eagles would have had to account for on Sunday.

That's one less weapon in the passing game for Patrick Mahomes, though the return of Edwards-Helaire is a plus nonetheless.