The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Injured Ware out, Hunt in as Chiefs starting RB
KANSAS CITY, MO. » The Kansas City Chiefs are preparing to play this season without their top running back.
Spencer Ware tore the posterior cruciate ligament and caused other damage to his right knee in Friday night’s preseason game in Seattle, an MRI exam revealed.
The Chiefs plan to seek a second opinion but their medical staff believes he will require season-ending surgery.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said third-round draft pick Kareem Hunt (Willoughby South) will be the starter for the regular-season opener Sept. 7 at New England.
Ware was hurt while fighting for extra yardage early in the loss to the Seahawks.
Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder said Sunday that players with a torn PCL can often get back on the field through rehab. But he said additional damage to the outside back corner of Ware’s knee compounds the issue, and “at this point in time our medical staff believes he needs season-ending surgery.”
Charcandrick West and C.J. Spiller will likely serve as backups.
“With all these significant injuries, we’ll exhaust all our options and look at second opinions and then do what’s best for Spencer’s knee and his career,” Burkholder said.
“We’re in that space right now, evaluating what’s going on. But right now our medical staff believes he needs surgery.”
The former sixth-round pick of the Seahawks arrived in Kansas City as a fullback a couple of years ago, but shed some weight and moved back to running back. And with injury problems to longtime star Jamaal Charles giving Ware some playing time, he proved to be an invaluable piece of the offense.
He ran for 921 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games last season.
“Spencer was so good at everything,” Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said. “Physical runner, but I still felt like (he was) nimble enough to do a lot of that stuff in space and get the edge.”
Indeed, the powerful Ware was poised to split carries with the more elusive Hunt this season, and it was assumed that he would get the majority of the touches near the goal line.
Now, that job falls to the trio of running backs Kansas City expects to carry on the roster.
“He sure was good at that,” Reid acknowledged. “I think the other guys will have to step into that role. We just don’t have quite as many snaps with the other guys in that situation. I think they’re capable of doing that. But that was one of Spencer’s strengths.”