Jamaal Charles, legend

Jamaal Charles - Record Breaker

By Tom Childs

Last Sunday Jamaal Charles broke Priest Holmes franchise record of 6070 rushing yards. With a long and rich list of great Chiefs running backs such as Christian Okoye, Marcus Allen and Larry Johnson, it is some achievement to be standing alone on the top of this list. So how did he get here? What are the high and low lights of what is already a truly unforgettable career? And more importantly, how many yards will he end up with?

Entering the league as the 73rd pick it was safe to say that not many of us had heard much about Texas running back Jamaal Charles. In his NFL scouting report Jamaal’s best attribute was listed as ‘pure unadulterated speed’ and that he had ‘rare acceleration to burst through the defense and breakaway.’ Another plus point they pointed out in his draft profile was Jamaal’s ability to ‘reads blocks well and knows when to explode into the line and when to exercise patience and allow the blocks to develop’. I don’t know who wrote this report but they hit the nail on the head.

Believe or not Jamaal was the 9th (NINTH) back selected in this draft.

Don’t laugh too hard when reading this list of players selected before JC25.

• Darren McFadden

• Jonathan Stewart

• Felix Jones

• Rashard Mendenhall

• Chris Johnson

• Matt Forte

• Ray Rice

• Kevin Smith

How many of those teams would want their picks back now? I would say all of them with the exception of Chicago.

2008

There wasn’t too much expectation placed on Jamaal in his debut season. After all the main man in KC at the time was Larry Johnson, a two time pro bowler who had already rushed for 5000 yards in just 5 seasons. A bit part role for Jamaal in year one, sharing touches with Kolby Smith (remember that guy!). His first real chance to show the Kingdom what he could do came in a 30-27 loss to Tampa Bay. With Larry Johnson out Jamaal was the feature back and impressed rushing for 106 yards at 5.9 yards per carry. Unfortunately this wasn’t a game I remember for Jamaal’s breakout performance, more so Tyler Thigpen’s 37 TD reception.

357 rushing yards, 5713 to go.

2009

Jamaal had to wait until week 10 to score his first NFL touchdown (all be it a receiving TD) against arch rivals the Oakland Raiders, just one week after he was handed the starting job. Legal problems for Larry Johnson meant he was released by the Chiefs and now Jamaal would be the main man in the Chiefs backfield.

One week later against the Steelers, Jamaal would score his first special teams touchdown with a 97 yard return as well as adding a second receiving TD later in the game. It wouldn’t be until week 12 when he would score his first rushing TD with a 4 yard run against the Chargers.

Before writing this article I asked our members for their favourite Jamaal performance. Unsurprisingly last year’s demolition of the Raiders stood out to most but it was a week 17 mauling of the Broncos that will live long in the memories of Chiefs fans old and young.

Needing a win to clinch a playoff berth the Broncos were heavy favourites when the Chiefs visited Mile High. The Broncos expected to win and with it clinch a playoff spot and leave the Chiefs with an embarrassing 3-13 record. However, Jamaal had other ideas! A blistering 259 rushing yards on just 25 carries led the Chiefs to a more than comfortable 44-24 win over their division rivals. With Jamaal playing the role of party pooper perfectly. Think about Jamaal’s stat line for a second, 25 – 259 – 2. 9 yards per carry! 9 YARDS PER CARRY!

For a lot of people this game was the one when they realised that we had a superstar on our roster.

1477 rushing yards, 4593 to go.

2010

Monday Night Football, Arrowhead Stadium. The Chargers are in town! The runaway division winners against a team who laboured to a 4-12 record. Only one winner right? WRONG!! A 56 yard touchdown run in a 21-14 win set the tone for what would be a magical season for Jamaal and the Chiefs.

This year was the first time in his young Chiefs career Jamaal was expected to deliver, and like all good postman he did as promised. A staggering 1935 yards from scrimmage and 8 TDs cemented him as the pivotal point of the Chiefs offense.

To compliment Jamaal’s talents the Chiefs added former Jets running back Thomas Jones. Together they formed the deadliest one-two punch in the NFL combining for over 2300 rushing yards and 11 scores. The formula was simple really. Jamaal would get us to the red zone; Jones would get us to the end zone.

Riding their excellent run game the Chiefs would take their first division crown in 7 years but ultimately fall short in the playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens.

Jamaal led the league in rushing (1497) that year and his great performances would earn him recognition from the fans, his peers and his GM. He was selected for his first pro bowl and was also included in the all-pro team. Jamaal signed his first big money deal, a 5 year $32 million contract. The Chiefs knew that had the real deal on their hands and they had to keep him.

2944 rushing yards, 3126 to go.

2011

I had never heard of a player slipping on the first down marker before and I haven’t since. But to the horror of us all, Jamaal tore his ACL doing just that, thus ending his season just two games in.

3027 rushing yards, 3063 to go.

2012

Was it not for Adrian Peterson coming back from a similar injury to Jamaal Charles and nearly breaking the single season rushing record, the world and it’s Aunty would have been drooling over Jamaal’s come back season. 1509 rushing yards in a season just one year after tearing his ACL is not normal, it’s not human in my eyes. If you could write/draw a comic book on the NFL then undoubtedly 2012 Jamaal would have been designed as some kind of super strength mutant/superhero thingy. You get what I am trying to say right? If Chris Sembower is reading this, then maybe that should be your next project!

The 2012 Chiefs stank, there is no hiding from that. It was the worst season in franchise history and offensively we were awful. Jamaal rushed for 1509 yards in that offense, Romeo Crennel’s offense! Another great way to summarise how good he was that season is if Jamaal was British he would have been handed an OBE for his services to sport, maybe even a Victoria Cross for his heroics.

Anyway that is enough about 2012. Now we’re getting to the good part. Out goes Scott Pioli, Matt Cassell and Romeo Crennell. In comes Andy Reid, Alex Smith and John Dorsey

4536 rushing yards, 1467 to go.

2013

"I'm just excited man, I can't wait. I get the goosebumps when I start talking about it because his system is so perfect for me. Having me look at what he did with LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook in a similar offense. The sky is the limit for me in this offense. I feel like I could be one of the top running backs you guys are talking about next year."

Jamaal Charles was clearly a fan of Andy Reid and for good reason. For years Reid employed an offense in Philly where the tail back was the feature guy, the main man, the MVP. And in Kansas City it would be no different. The same system would be employed and Jamaal would be that guy. Like most Chiefs fans, you probably were the envy of all of your friends when you picked up Jamaal early in your fantasy league. Turning down guys like LeSean McCoy, Marshawn Lynch and Ray Rice so you could spend your number 1 pick on number 25. You had the inside knowledge and had complete confidence in everything you had read during the offseason that Jamaal was in for a big year. Unlike your friends, you weren’t disappointed.And like me you probably celebrated a fantasy league win in 2013, especially if you picked the Chiefs D/ST.

Jamaal had the best year of his career and it started with a bang. The Chiefs jumped out to a 9-0 start and as promised Jamaal was proving to be the ‘feature back’ we had all wanted to see. He scored a touchdown in each of the first 7 games including a brace against the Raiders, the first of 7 (SEVEN) touchdowns he would score against the Raiders that year, but more on that a bit later. Something appeared in the first half of the season that we had never seen on a consistent basis before, Jamaal’s ability to ‘close out’ games. Holding a lead late in the fourth quarter the game plan was simple. Give the ball to Jamaal, get a first down and win the game.

In the space of 12 months the Chiefs went from the worse team in the league to a playoff team. Unfortunately Jamaal’s playoffs were cut way to short when he went down with a concussion in Indy. None the less 2013 was a spectacular season for Jamaal and there were many memorable performances, none more so than his demolition of the Raiders on a sunny afternoon in Oakland.

5 touchdowns in one game, 5! Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4 but 5! The last time a Chiefs player scored 5 touchdowns in one game we still played in Dallas and was called the Texans. From the very first play you could tell he was in the mood taking a pass from Alex Smith 49 yards for a score. He was to add 3 more receiving scores for 39, 16 and 71 yards. If that wasn’t enough let’s add the 1 yard rushing touchdown to proceedings. Jamaal demonstrated what a perfect offensive weapon he is, and how we can line him up anywhere in the formation and expect him to cause chaos for defenders.

In total we would see the Jamaal Charles touchdown brush off celebration 19 times in 2013. In terms of yards he managed 1980 from scrimmage, his most productive season of his career. A third pro bowl trip was awarded to Jamaal as well as a new contract with him now tied down until 2017.

5823 rushing yards, 247 to go. No longer a question of ‘if he will break the record, but when?’

.

2014

To improve on last year’s numbers would be almost impossible, with Knile Davis proving a more than adequate back up and the added threat of Travis Kelce in the passing game the Chiefs aren’t as reliant on Jamaal Charles in 2014. That doesn’t mean that Jamaal isn’t as good as he was. He still remains an elite running back that all the other 31 teams would love to have in their backfield. If anything he is more of a threat than ever as we can keep him fresh.

Priest Holmes record was now firmly in Jamaal’s sights and clinched the record Sunday night with a run that summarises Jamaal’s game perfectly.

Get to the edge, follow his blockers, find the open space and finish. And what a finish it was. I’m sure Brandon flowers will be having nightmares about that hit for weeks to come.

247 rushing yards, job done!

Now the question is ‘how many yards he will end up with?’ If I was a betting man I would put my money on the 8500 yard mark. And with the way the game is becoming a ‘passing league’ I would also pop a couple of pounds on his record standing forvever.