ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the severity of Jamaal Charles' injured ankle:
NBC Sports' Mike Florio previously reported results from the x-rays conducted on Charles' injury:
Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles has exited the team's Week 2 matchup versus the Denver Broncos.
Charles went down with an ankle injury and was questionable to return, according to the Chiefs on Twitter:
He would not return:
Rachel Santschi of kcchiefs.com provided an update after Kansas City's 24-17 loss:
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network added:
The three-time Pro Bowler dealt with a bruised foot during the preseason but had recently shown no ill effects.
Typically a bastion of health, Charles has suffered only one major injury in his seven-year career—a torn ACL in 2011 that caused him to miss 14 games. The former Texas star has otherwise played 15 or 16 games in every other season, so it'll be interesting to see Charles' prognosis after he undergoes further testing.
For now, the running back reins will be handed to Knile Davis, who certainly has potential but has limited NFL experience. He carried the ball only 70 times for 242 yards in 2013 and entered 2014 as a pure backup to Charles.
Andy Glockner of The Cauldron weighed in on Davis as a backup:
Davis was the team's third-round pick last season after an up-and-down career at Arkansas highlighted by some critical fumbles in high-leverage situations.
“It’s being more aware of my surroundings and having two hands on the ball,” Davis told The Kansas City Star's Randy Covitz of his improved ball security. “What happens is, you have one hand on it, so you don’t see other guys hitting it. When you have two hands on it, it doesn’t matter who’s there, because it’s tight. In this league, people are trying to come get it.”
Even if he holds on to the ball, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which Davis (or rookie De'Anthony Thomas) replicates Charles' production. Charles has never finished a season below five yards per carry, has soft hands he used to the tune of a career-high 70 receptions last season and is arguably the most explosive, game-breaking back on the planet.
Davis can be very good at football and never come close to putting up numbers of that caliber. That's obviously a problem for Kansas City, which uses a conservative West Coast attack that relies on its ground game to make big plays.
Should the injury turn out to be serious, play-action passing will prove less effective, as will the underneath dump-offs Alex Smith has come to rely on. It's safe to say everyone wearing red and white hopes Charles' tests confirm the injury is minor.
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