Jamaal Charles Likely Has Torn ACL: Fantasy Football Backup Plans


Jamaal Charles likely has a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the Kansas City Chiefs 2015 season. In the third quarter, Charles suffered the non-contact injury after cutting awkwardly to his left. While the 18-17 loss to the Chicago Bears hurts, the possible loss of Charles is devastating to an offense that already has its struggles. Fantasy football owners are also in a difficult situation tonight. In many leagues, Charles was a top five pick and expected to be a consistent workhorse for owners who drafted him early. Here is the injury courtesy of the Barstool Sports Twitter page.

While an MRI tomorrow still needs to confirm the tear, multiple sources are reporting that Charles is out for the year. Before an official announcement was made, ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth speculated on his Twitter account that it was probably a torn ACL.

Oddly enough, non-contact ACL injuries are extremely common in sports. When many serious knee injuries such as torn ACLs take place, it happens when a player is not hit. They will generally move their legs awkwardly, and the knee will just give out.

Shortly after the game, Chiefs fans and Jamaal Charles fantasy football owners’ worst nightmare came true. According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Chiefs heads coach Andy Reid said that preliminary reports are that Charles did tear his ACL.

Before his injury, the 4x Pro Bowler had 12 carries for 58 yards rushing. He added 26 yards on one reception. On the year, Charles has 364 yards rushing and four touchdowns. He also has a receiving touchdown. Because of his versatility in the running and passing game, Charles was a dual threat for the Chiefs. He was also regularly able to put up huge numbers in fantasy football, and had an extremely high floor since it was always difficult to shut him down in the running and passing game.

While Knile Davis has been a solid backup running back to Charles in previous seasons, he only rushed for two yards on two carries. Undrafted rookie Charcandrick West had seven carries for 31 yards. At this point, it is too early to tell how the Chiefs backfield will look the rest of the year. While the Chiefs offense is going to struggle, Davis or West could be viable fantasy football options if one of them claims the job. If neither of them is able to receive the bulk of the carries, we would completely avoid both Davis and West as a replacement for Charles as the year goes on.

Since running back is already such a thin position in the league, you still may have to take a chance with one of them for Week 6. Davis is only owned in 13 percent of Yahoo fantasy football leagues. Charcandrick West is only owned in eight percent of leagues. While the two of them are going to be at the top of everyone’s waiver wire list this week, you should still put a claim in for one of them.

With Charles gone, Andy Reid’s 1-4 Chiefs are more than likely going to miss the playoffs this year. According to USA Today, Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley spoke very highly of Charles after the game.

“Jamaal is one of the heartbeats of this team. People here love him. We love him in this locker room. To not have him on the football field, it hurts us. It hurts us scheme-wise and it also hurts us because we feel for him.”

After reporting the injury, Adam Schefter also took to his Twitter account to show just how good Jamaal Charles is.

[Image via Christian Petersen/Getty Images]

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