Did Jamaal Charles betray the Chiefs by signing with the Broncos? Britt Zank says he did. Click here for our counterpoint by Nick Floyd.
My initial reaction when I heard Jamaal Charles had signed with the Denver Broncos was mixed. I was glad he landed with a team and could continue his career if that’s what he wanted. On the other side, though, I was simultaneously having Neil Smith flashbacks causing nauseating pains in my stomach. I didn’t like it, but he wanted to play and if they wanted him than he’s got to do what’s best for him. But then Jamaal had to go and start talking, now I only feel betrayed.
He has the gall to say it’s personal with the Chiefs like they did something to him. They stuck by him through two devastating knee injuries. They made him one of the highest paid running backs in the league and made him a hero of Kansas City. They even let him go early on so he had all this time to sign with a new team when they could have easily held him until the day before the season and then cut him. The team didn’t have the cap space or roster spots available to hope he could be the old Jamaal. The Chiefs are a contender that doesn’t have those resources. So they did everything based on what was best for Jamaal, and yet he wants to call it personal?
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Then he wants to take direct jabs at the fans of Kansas City by saying he’s always been a Bronco fan and John Elway was his favorite player as a kid? I’ve followed him since he was at the University of Texas and I’ve never heard him say either of those things before. Now he signs with who he knows is the sworn enemy of the city that gave him everything, and rubs our noses in it?
Well Jamaal, I hope you do make the Broncos roster this year. I hope you have a solid year and are able to come to Kansas City in week 8. Monday Night Football for all the country to see as the city who gave everything to you, reacts the way it should after the shade you threw our way. The whole world will see that Kansas City is not some pushover that just forgives and forgets.
Maybe one day he will be back with the good side at mid-field as his name goes up in the Ring of Honor. Jamaal didn’t burn down his bridge to Kansas City, but he did leave it in a state of disrepair. It can be fixed and hopefully one day it will, but for right now I feel nothing but anger and betrayal by him.