This year, Jamaal Charles will be facing off against the Chiefs. The rival Broncos will sign the veteran running back, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s a one-year deal with a base value of $1MM: $900K of that total will come in base salary, while another $100K is a workout bonus, reports Mike Klis of 9News. Incentives can bring the maximum of the pact to $3.75MM. The Broncos have confirmed the signing via press release.
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The Broncos huddled up with Charles at team headquarters on Tuesday and it didn’t take long for a deal to materialize. Charles now joins a running back group which already features C.J. Anderson, Devontae Booker, Juwan Thompson, and sixth-round pick DeAngelo Henderson, but he figures to see a good percentage of the team’s carries. At this stage, Charles can’t be counted on as a bell cow, but he could certainly be a difference maker in a split backfield.
Charles, 30, has appeared in a total of eight games in the last two seasons. When he was healthy in 2014, however, he managed to average 5.0 yards per carry behind a porous Chiefs offensive line. In the year before that, he recorded a career-high 1,980 yards from scrimmage and scored 19 touchdowns. The Broncos will hope to see a reprise of that electrifying performance, though that’s not necessarily what they are expecting.
With Charles off the board, LeGarrette Blount stands as the undisputed top veteran running back on the market. Other notables include Rashad Jennings, DeAngelo Williams, and Chris Johnson.
Photo via Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.
Wow, CJ Anderson taking a back seat!
It’s a solid insurance move. Charles helps immensely out of the shotgun picking up rushers, and with Anderson’s seemingly frequent nagging injuries, adding someone to ease the burden makes a ton of sense.
Not to forget that Charles has elite pass catching abilities. It’ll be a committee in Denver.
Adding someone who also has frequent injury issues.
Having Anderson and Charles takes alot of pressure off the QB(whoever that will be, I think Paxton will show up). Both Anderson and Charles have injury issues though. Might be good for them 2 to be in a time share.
I was hoping they’d pick him up before the draft and pair him with CJ, but I wasn’t so sure Elway would pull the trigger. Waiting until now probably made him a little cheaper, so it works out better.