When Michael Vick’s retirement becomes official (it was announced in February), Jamaal Charles will inherit the title of the NFL’s most-prolific active rusher in terms of yards per attempt. He can thank the AFC West for much of that accomplishment.
It’s a list you must take with a grain of salt – after all, Vick never played a full 16 games in a season after his return from a dogfighting suspension from 2007 to 2008 and many of those names are in the twilight of their careers – but the names atop the list, even if they are aged in NFL terms, is still an impressive one.
| Rank | Player | Y/A | Years | Tm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Vick | 7.0 | 2001-2015 | 4TM |
| 2 | Jamaal Charles | 5.5 | 2008-2016 | kan |
| 3 | Adrian Peterson | 4.9 | 2007-2016 | min |
| 4 | Justin Forsett | 4.7 | 2008-2016 | 7TM |
| LeSean McCoy | 4.7 | 2009-2016 | 2TM | |
| DeAngelo Williams | 4.7 | 2006-2016 | 2TM |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/2/2017.
On Tuesday, Charles will visit with the Denver Broncos to see if the longtime division rival is the right place to continue to build upon his Hall of Fame career. He parted ways with the Chiefs this offseason after nine incredibly productive years in Kansas City.
In nine years in the league, Charles has earned four Pro Bowl nominations (2010, ’12-14) and a pair of first-team All-Pro nods (2010, ’13). He led the NFL in touchdowns in 2013 and ranks 18th among all active players with 9,707 yards from scrimmage. Simply put, Charles has been one of the most effective backs in the league over the last nine years moving the football. Much of that damage came against the AFC West.
But for as good as Charles was against his division, it rarely translated to success for his team as a whole.
In 36 games against the AFC West with Charles on the field, Kansas City posted only a .333 winning percentage despite an impressive 4.95 yards per attempt and 25 touchdowns from Charles. Kansas City did not have a winning record against any of the three division rivals during Charles’ nine seasons – even against Oakland, who had five seasons of five wins or less during that span.
| Games | Rushing | Receiving | Scoring | Kick Returns | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Split | Value | G | W | L | T | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD | A/G | Y/G | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Ctch% | Y/Tgt | R/G | Y/G | 2PM | TD | Pts | Rt | Yds | Y/Rt | TD |
| League | NFL | 103 | 40 | 63 | 0 | 1332 | 7260 | 5.45 | 43 | 12.9 | 70.5 | 408 | 285 | 2457 | 8.62 | 20 | 69.9% | 6.02 | 2.8 | 23.9 | 1 | 64 | 386 | 51 | 1246 | 24.43 | 1 |
| AFC West | 36 | 12 | 24 | 0 | 441 | 2183 | 4.95 | 17 | 12.3 | 60.6 | 131 | 88 | 802 | 9.11 | 8 | 67.2% | 6.12 | 2.4 | 22.3 | 25 | 150 | 18 | 457 | 25.39 | 0 | ||
| Denver Broncos | 13 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 186 | 987 | 5.31 | 5 | 14.3 | 75.9 | 44 | 28 | 188 | 6.71 | 2 | 63.6% | 4.27 | 2.2 | 14.5 | 7 | 42 | 5 | 142 | 28.40 | 0 | ||
| Oakland (LA) Raiders | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 131 | 532 | 4.06 | 6 | 10.9 | 44.3 | 56 | 39 | 430 | 11.03 | 5 | 69.6% | 7.68 | 3.3 | 35.8 | 11 | 66 | 3 | 78 | 26.00 | 0 | ||
| San Diego Chargers | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 124 | 664 | 5.35 | 6 | 11.3 | 60.4 | 31 | 21 | 184 | 8.76 | 1 | 67.7% | 5.94 | 1.9 | 16.7 | 7 | 42 | 10 | 237 | 23.70 | 0 | ||
Charles has played 35 percent of his career games against the AFC West, and even if he had not played another game would still rank atop the NFL’s rush yards per attempt list with 4.95.
Against the Broncos, Charles averaged 5.31 yards per rushing attempted and complied seven total touchdowns in 13 games. He scored another seven TDs against the Chargers in just 11 games, rushing for 5.35 yards per attempt. He was not as productive gaining yards against Oakland (4.06 y/a), but he found the end zone 11 times versus the silver and black.
Kansas City still managed to make the playoffs in four of his nine years, but Charles was only healthy enough to play in them twice. He has yet to enjoy a playoff win in a career that is bordering on Hall-of-Fame-worthy.
After a pair of ACL injuries (2011 and 2015), it’s uncertain how healthy and effective a weapon Charles would be in a Denver uniform. He’s played in just eight games over the past two seasons, and he’s past the proverbial “running back cliff” at 31 years old. Still, his track record against the division – even if it hasn’t resulted in wins – has Denver curious enough to consider his services to help rejuvenate a running game that ranked 27th in the NFL last season.