Jackie Battle Is The Chiefs’ New Lead Back

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Bill Muir confirmed Friday that Jackie Battle is the new lead back of the Kansas City Chiefs.

“We basically have a plan in terms of not equally distributing the carries,” Muir said, “but certain plays we maybe like with a certain player. Obviously you get in a situation where a guy is running tough and he’s running for extra yards — the kind of game sometimes dictates who that back is.”

Battle had a breakout performance two weeks ago against the Indianapolis Colts. It was the first time Battle had ever really been given significant carries in the regular season behind a starting offensive line.

Battle did not disappoint.

“As a staff, we’ve always known he has talent,” Muir said. “Now that he has the opportunity to carry the ball, I think that’s a significant thing.”

Significant indeed.

I have to be honest, I was wrong about Battle. I used to be very high on the Chiefs giving him a chance but other than the spare carry here and there, they never did. As the years wore on, I figured the Chiefs just saw Battle as a special teams guy.

Then in the preseason this year, Battle looked awful. He wasn’t running with much burst, and he was fumbling way more than I could be comfortable with. After that I pretty much lost faith in Battle and even called for the Chiefs to cut him in favor of giving free agent Steve Slaton a look.

Oops.

Battle may not turn out to be anything other than average. The performance against the Colts was just one game, and it may have just been a flash in the pan.

Still, there is a lot to be excited about in Battle. He is a big back with very good speed. He was getting a ton of yards after contact against the Colts which could make a big difference for the KC offense.