Jamaal Charles has been a stud in the NFL
for many seasons, doing just about everything you can think of for the Chiefs
offense. In his eight year career, Charles has accumulated 7,220 rushing yards
and 42 touchdowns. Not the most impressive numbers, but Charles has also never
had less than 5.0 yards per carry (YPC) in his eight year career. That is
impressive in itself. Only one thing has held him back from true greatness: his
health. Charles is coming off a 2015 season that saw it end just five games in
due to an ACL tear in his right knee. In those five games, however, the Chief's running back racked up an impressive 364 yards rushing with four touchdowns. Looking towards
the 2016 season, expectations should be tempered for the 29 year-old back. Asking
for 1,000 yards and 6-8 touchdowns seems realistic for someone of his caliber. But
why not stretch the imagination? Can Jamaal Charles rush for 2,000 yards this
season?
It’s certainly a bold claim, and not one I’m willing to hang my
hat on. The 2,000-Yard Rusher’s Club is a small and talented group, featuring
three Hall of Famers (OJ Simpson, Eric Dickerson, and Barry Sanders), two future
Hall of Famers (Terrell Davis and Adrian Peterson), and two studs (Chris
Johnson and Jamal Lewis). To put Charles among those ranks would certainly
help his Hall of Fame case, but that milestone has been accomplished just seven
times since 1973. We also mentioned how Charles is coming off an ACL injury,
another obstacle for him to cross. All this in mind, it’s not impossible for
Charles to accomplish. After all, his talent and track record shows he has the
potential to at least challenge that mark. Let’s dive into why this could
happen:
His Career YPC
As previously mentioned, Jamaal Charles is pretty good at running
the football. His career average YPC is an incredible 5.5, good enough for
first place all-time. We also mentioned how his career low for a season was
5.0, which he has done twice. His best over an entire season (excluding his 6.9
over two games in 2011) was a whopping 6.4 in 2010. He rushed for 1,467 yards
that year through 16 games. Those stats are absolutely ridiculous. Comparing them
to the 2,000-Yard Rusher’s Club, Charles stacks up well. The lowest YPC from
those seasons was 5.1 by Terrell Davis. That’s a mark that Charles can reach no
problem. Charles is known for his break-away speed and ability to simply beat
defenders to the edge. Charles is also known for his ankle-breaking jukes, just
ask his former teammate Sanders Commings.
His moves may not be as good as when he was younger and had less wear-and-tear, but I
would imagine he can still make defenders look silly in the open field.
The Chiefs’ Offensive System
If there is one thing Chiefs’ Head Coach Andy Reid loves to do, it’s
run the football. Reid also employs the West-Coast offense that allows for a
quick-striking passing offense. Captained by quarterback Alex Smith, the Chiefs
offense gets the job done through the air, but the team has definitely relied
on their above-average run game to win close games. Thankfully, Charles has fit into Reid’s system seamlessly. His
best season overall came in 2013. Charles rushed for 1,287 yards with 12
touchdowns (5.0 YPC) and also caught 70 passes for 693 yards and seven
touchdowns. That was Reid’s first season in Kansas City. With Smith at
quarterback, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, and tight end Travis Kelce, this Chiefs’
squad has just enough fire power to take some of the pressure off Charles, but
still to the point that he is the main weapon of the offense.
History
In 2011, Jamaal Charles was coming off a season in which he rushed
for over 1,400 yards and averaged 6.4 YPC over the entire 2010 season. Two games
into the 2011 season, Charles was off to another good start before he tore his
ACL. He would miss the remainder of the season. The 2012 season would serve as
Jamaal Charles’ resurgence to the NFL. He wound up grabbing a career best 1,509
rushing yards (5.3 YPC) and five touchdowns.
In 2015, Jamaal Charles was coming off a season in which he rushed
for over 1,000 yards and averaged 5.0 YPC over the course of 15 games. Five games
into the 2015 season, Charles was off to another good start before he tore his
ACL. He would miss the remainder of the season… You fill in the rest.
History often serves as a fun thing to hang your hat on. There are
no guarantees, but if you are right you always love the saying, “history
repeats itself”. I’m not the biggest believer when it comes to this saying, but
I do realize it is sometimes true. ACL tears are not the death sentences for
running backs that they use to be. Charles has shown he can rebound from it no
problem. He also tore it early enough in the season that he should be nearly
100% healthy for the start of 2016. A healthy Charles is as dangerous a running
back in the NFL as you’ll find.
Bringing it all together, the odds are stacked against Jamaal
Charles to grab 2,000 rushing yards. Charles returns to an offense that has
plenty of talent in the back field to keep him fresh as well as a passing
attack that should take a step forward this season. But on the other side, the
Chiefs’ offensive line got an upgrade at right tackle in Mitchell Schwartz and
a defense that won’t allow too many big leads for the opposing team. That will
lead to more rushing opportunities for Charles.
For what it’s worth, Charles could be facing a similar situation
to the one Adrian Peterson faced going into the 2012 season. Both coming off
ACL tears (Peterson’s was much later in the season than Charles’), both have/had offenses that were
potent enough to do the job (Vikings featured Kyle Rudolph and Percy Harvin),
and both were featured backs with all the talent in the world. Important note:
Adrian Peterson is a freak, and I am not saying Charles = AD. All I am saying
is their situations are similar and as we mentioned earlier, “history repeats
itself”.
2,000 rushing yards is an incredibly difficult task, especially in
today’s modern era were passing offenses dominate. Coming off a big knee injury
certainly wouldn’t help anyone to accomplish this task. But Jamaal Charles isn’t
just your average running back. Jamaal Charles isn’t some running back who can’t
do it all. Jamaal Charles is one of the best running backs in the NFL. If he
plays 16 games healthy, expect him to at least challenge for the legendary
2,000-yard mark.
Richard Bradshaw is available to follow on
twitter @RichieBradz36. Articles available every Friday. Thank you for the
read.
No comments:
Post a Comment