Chiefs HC Andy Reid endorses Jamaal Charles' 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame bid
Former Kansas City Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles is among the first-year players eligible for Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2024. Charles, unfortunately, faces an uphill battle to make it into the Hall of Fame. The few running backs who have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame boast an average of 137 […]
Former Kansas City Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles is among the first-year players eligible for Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2024.
Charles, unfortunately, faces an uphill battle to make it into the Hall of Fame. The few running backs who have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame boast an average of 137 starts, 2,552 carries, 10,991 rushing yards, and 86 rushing scores. Longevity is the problem.
When No. 25 retired in 2018, he finished with just 69 games started in his NFL career with 1,407 carries, 7563 rushing yards, and 44 touchdowns. Add in his receiving production and he's up to 10,156 yards from scrimmage and 64 touchdowns, which is still short of that average production.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid only had Charles for four seasons, but he got to see him at the height of his production. He was a focal point of the franchise's offense when Reid was just starting to turn things around in Kansas City. In 2013, he was a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro and in 2014 he went to the Pro Bowl again.
Reid certainly doesn't feel that the numbers should be a detriment to Charles' candidacy. In fact, he believes that one particular statistic is indicative of the reason that Charles should be in the Hall of Fame.
"A Hall of Fame player," Reid said of Charles. "He was tremendous. He could do everything. I mean, literally everything. He could play wide receiver. He did play running back. You give him the ball, you're guaranteed whatever his average is. But it's one of the highest ever, if not the highest in the league history. He was a great player. I wish I would have had him when he was even younger than what I got him at."
Charles averaged 5.4 yards per rushing attempt in his NFL career. Only Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame RB Marion Motley (1946-1955) had a better yards per rushing attempt average during his pro football career. Charles still has the highest yards per rushing attempt of any modern-era NFL running back, and for a position that is becoming devalued by the day, that certainly has to count for something.
Reid even believes that Charles should be considered for enshrinement as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"Oh absolutely," Reid said. "A lot of running backs have played the game and he's there, statistically, at the top. And then all of the things that he could do to help you win a football game, there are not a lot of guys who can do that.
"He did it easily."
Charles always made things look easy on the gridiron. Hopefully, that rings true of his Hall of Fame candidacy, too.
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Featured image via John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
