The Kansas City Chiefs made a major move in the backfield Monday morning, placing veteran Clyde Edwards-Helaire on the team’s non-football injury (NFI) list. With the move, the Chiefs will be without Edwards-Helaire for at least the next four games and will have to rethink their expectations for the team’s running backs.

That means there will be some changes coming soon for the players involved, especially since the Baltimore Ravens visit the Chiefs in Arrowhead on Thursday night to kick off the full NFL season.

As Week 1 approaches, losing Edwards-Helaire for a few weeks means the Chiefs will have to figure things out on the ground, so to speak. Isiah Pacheco is the lead back and his spot isn’t up for debate, which generally gives the situation some stability. Things get really interesting from there, though, for a couple of reasons.

1. Edwards-Helaire is the only other player on the active roster with any meaningful experience in Andy Reid’s offense. The fifth-year back was re-signed for another year this spring with the idea of ​​serving as the primary backup to both Pacheco and whoever was brought on board to replace Jerick McKinnon. Now that’s gone.

2. Carson Steele made the active roster as a feel-good story, a rookie free agent out of UCLA who jumped over a lot of competition to make it to the Chiefs. That said, he’s as green as they come and it’s a big jump from preseason to regular season and a lot of training camp heroes have fallen short when they’ve gotten meaningful reps.

3. Samaje Perine is the other option on the list right now, a long-serving NFL veteran with the Bengals and Broncos who was just brought in to play the third-down back role. His experience should allow him to make a smoother transition than some of the others, but it’s still notable that he was hired by a rival a week ago.

Pacheco is healthy, by all accounts, and should be able to hold off the bulk of the team’s rushing attack against the Ravens. That said, for those who thought someone like Carson Steele would get the occasional snap in garbage time, the script may be a little different now.

Against the Ravens, Pacheco and Perine will get their reps in the backfield, but there’s little doubt the Chiefs bell cow will have to be spelled here and there, meaning Steele will likely come in and out at times. He could even get a series or two.

The only back to attempt a rush in the AFC Championship game between the Ravens and Chiefs was Edwards-Helaire, and that was just once. So it’s possible the Chiefs will once again lean heavily on Pacheco to get the job done in his absence. But the team also knows that the stakes way different from week 1 to the conference title game and long-term lenses are in place. That means Pacheco gets his rest and Steele gets his chances.

Who could have imagined this for Carson Steele in early May?