Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire was allowed the dignity of addressing his release publicly moments before several NFL insiders began reporting the news on social media.

“Love ya KC!” Edwards-Helaire stated on X. “A family I didn’t know I needed, y’all made a Kid from Baton Rouge dreams come true! To Chiefs Kingdom , its all love and the support I had in troubling times will forever be unmatched from you guys! With love! ❤️ 💛 -Clydro ✌🏾.”

It’s been an eye-opening season off the field for Edwards-Helaire, who revealed that he’s been battling symptoms caused by PTSD since 2018. The same symptoms caused the former first-round running back to miss parts of training camp and the preseason — which led to him beginning the regular season on the injured reserve.

Eventually, the ball carrier nicknamed “CEH” was activated off IR, but there were still questions of his availability — both mentally and physically.

At the same time, Kansas City had already brought in different half backs to account for both Edwards-Helaire and teammate Isiah Pacheco’s early season absences. Once the pair of ex-starters were healthy again, the depth chart became very crowded, very quickly.

As a result of that, Edwards-Helaire had been a healthy scratch in recent weeks, stuck behind Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, Samaje Perine and undrafted rookie Carson Steele on the roster.

It felt like an inevitability that his time in KC would come to a close following the 2024 campaign, but in the end, the Chiefs elected to finalize the roster move at the start of Week 16.

Per Chiefs Digest beat reporter Matt Derrick, Kansas City waiving CEH would “appear to open up a roster spot for the expected return of WR Hollywood Brown.”

Like Edwards-Helaire, Brown has yet to suit up for a regular season game in 2024, but his recovery has been trending in the right direction in recent weeks.

On the morning of December 16, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport relayed that “[Brown] practiced on Friday, and from my understanding, he was so quick and so impressive in practice on Friday that there is a possibility — a very real possibility — that Hollywood Brown makes his Chiefs debut not in Week 17 or 18 but this coming week [against the Houston Texans].”

So, while it’s unfortunate that Edwards-Helaire’s time in KC has come to end, the silver lining for fans is that Brown could finally debut. Such is life in a business like the NFL.

Chiefs fans showed Edwards-Helaire an enormous amount of love and support on social media after he announced his release from the organization.

“Love to you, Clyde. Your willingness to share your journey has been impactful to people, including myself,” KC Sports Network’s Kent Swanson responded.

Actor and diehard Chiefs supporter Eric Stonestreet also replied: “❤️ you’re the best guy.”

And countless others voiced their appreciation too.

“My guy. Chiefs kingdom will always be a place for you and the journey you went on and bravely shared to everyone will never be forgotten,” one fan wrote. “Good luck with all of your endeavors!”

Another said: “We love you Clyde. Thanks for providing fun and laughter in the locker room and thanks for helping deliver two Super Bowls to KC. Forever a Chief 🙏🏼.”

Finally, one comment simply read: “Much love, Clyde! Chiefs Kingdom will always support you! ❤️💛.”

His post has 8,500 likes and over 1 million views in an hour and a half.