Jamaal Charles listed as questionable for Sunday

Has the Kansas City Chiefs’ star halfback Jamaal Charles hit another obstacle on his road back to recovery?

A week after touching the ball nine times in Oakland and proving he still can be an effective runner, Jamaal Charles’ status is now in question Sunday vs. the Saints. It turns out that Charles is suffering from some knee swelling that has kept him from being a full participant at practice.

This is a concern for Kansas City after slowly easing their all-time leading rusher along. It seemed that No. 25 was heading in the right direction after last week in Oakland, but now he will be a 50/50 call for this weekend.

The good news for Chiefs fans is that head coach Andy Reid had some promising words in front of the mic today:

Obviously the Chiefs would love to have Charles healthy and effective down the stretch. Having a player of his caliber is always a plus, and it showed last week once he got a few more touches. Regardless, Kansas City’s offense is coming off a hot week of football in which they took it to the Oakland Raiders.

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Much of their success came from running back Spencer Ware, who has been an absolute tank. He is averaging 5.3 yards per carry right now, a mark right around what Charles has averaged throughout his career.

You cannot replace a Jamaal Charles, but Spencer Ware has been quite impressive since getting a shot a year ago. KC also has Charcandrick West who has given them valuable snaps.

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The bottom line is the Chiefs are going to make sure Charles is okay to go. There is no point of rushing him back when they have been just as successful running the football. Whether Jamaal is ready Sunday or not, Kansas City will welcome him with open arms once he returns.