Jamaal Charles will miss the rest of preseason
By Brad Rowland
Kansas City Chiefs (and fantasy football) fans won’t be seeing any more of Jamaal Charles during the 2013 preseason if a Pro Football Talk report is true. Earlier on Friday afternoon, PFT tweeted the following statement:\
Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles (foot) will not play tonight, per league source. If game counted, he would play.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 16, 2013
On the surface, this wasn’t exactly breaking “news”, as it was widely reported that he was doubtful for Friday’s game with a foot injury. However, the tweet that followed was something we hadn’t seen before:
On Jamaal Charles, current plan is he won't play again in preseason. He will return Week One.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 16, 2013
News of Charles missing the rest of the preseason isn’t a shock, but it appears that the foot strain is either worse than advertised or that Kansas City is electing to play this one very safely. Relying on the use of a “league source” isn’t exactly concrete, but Charles is the clear focal point of the Chiefs’ offense for this season, and they will need his explosiveness when Week 1 approaches.
In 2012, Charles rushed for 1,509 yards on just 285 carries, and with a small workload increase (that was expected), he could approach the 1,800-2,000 yard plateau. The sound you hear is the collective “holding of the breath” from the entire fan base of the Kansas City Chiefs, but we won’t know just how healthy Charles is until he sets foot on the field again.