Charles may make Chiefs miss him
Three NFL teams told Jamaal Charles to go sit on the porch, put his feet up and retire. Kansas City ran Charles into the ground, then ran him out of town after he had moved the rock nearly 10,000 yards from scrimmage for the Chiefs during nine seasons. Desperate to find work somewhere in the league at age 30, Charles was bluntly told by San Francisco and Seattle his damaged knees were too shaky to be trusted on a football field.
So when Charles stands proudly Monday night for the national anthem at Arrowhead Stadium, wearing No. 28 for the Broncos, he may not be strong enough to hold back the tears, and thousands of appreciative Chiefs fans may get a little misty-eyed, as well.
“It’s good to let people cry sometimes,” Charles said Thursday.
If Charles is ever going to be an impact player for the Broncos, now would be the ideal time. The Denver offense has only one gear, and it has been stuck in reverse for a month. Charles is returning home to face the Chiefs, who released him in February, and have justified that coldhearted move by becoming the highest-scoring team in the AFC
without him.
If life imitates the movies, the Broncos have to give Charles 20 touches, via handoff or the pass, and watch him run with a vengeance against the team that unceremoniously dumped him, right?
“I hope they give my man a big ol’ JumboTron, with all his highlights from back in the day,” said Denver running back C.J. Anderson, hoping the Chiefs honor Charles with a pregame tribute. “He’ll get a little emotional, so we can laugh at him, then he goes out there and do what he does best. He’s just doing it for blue and orange, not red and yellow.”
Twenty-three times in his NFL career Charles has rushed for 100 yards. The last time he was wearing the red and yellow of Kansas City against the Broncos, in September 2015. You know if Charles writes the script, he would love to be front and center in Denver’s offensive game plan, then run for 100 for the 24th time against the Chiefs.
“Let’s take the training wheels off,” said Charles, rocking anxiously on his feet at the team’s Dove Valley headquarters, trying to stay warm in an early blast of wintry weather.
But reality seldom matches our sweet imaginations. Can you handle the truth?
After being released in Kansas City, the 49ers and Seahawks confirmed the harsh evaluation that Charles should take his ball and go home. It was a calculated gamble by John Elway and the Broncos to give Charles a chance to disprove the discouraging medical opinion and somber football analysis by those NFL teams.
“The other two teams that looked at me, looked at my knees and basically said you should retire, and we don’t want you right now,” Charles said. “I think I proved to people that I can still play … and I still can play with anybody. I’m just going to keep showing it. That’s just lighting the fuel in me, and keeps that spark inside.”
Count me among the doubters that Charles has proved to be wrong. I believed he had less than a 50-50 chance to emerge from training camp as a member of Denver’s active roster. But as long as I’m gladly admitting my mistake, please allow me to also point out what I saw as reasonable to expect from Charles when he joined the team.
If Charles could earn 125 touches and gain 600 yards from scrimmage, I predicted in May, it would qualify as a major comeback victory. At the time, Broncos Country screamed those projections were far too low.
Well, through six games with Denver, Charles has rushed 42 times for 196 yards and caught eight passes for 43 yards. He’s on pace to finish with 134 touches for 638 yards.
That would qualify as an amazing comeback for a running back that was thrown on the scrap heap by the Chiefs.
But if the Broncos want to get back in the playoff race, now’s the time to find out how far Charles can carry them.
Take the training wheels off.