Chiefs Kingdom isn’t exactly sure why Charcandrick West wasn’t available for Week 13, but he’s a welcome sight back at practice as they prepare for the Raiders.
The Kansas City Chiefs are going to need every star to play like it and every role player to fill in the gaps when they face the Oakland Raiders at home at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. The season is at that level of desperation.
Given their recent slide of 6 losses in their last 7 games, the Chiefs must stop the bleeding in a must-win game against a division rival that’s already beaten them once this year. What hurts even more is that the Chiefs are down several players via injury and star cornerback Marcus Peters, due to a one-game suspension.
Fortunately, the running back position will be bolstered with the return of Charcandrick West, the team’s most experienced back who missed last week’s game and practice sessions for undisclosed personal reasons.
Dee Ford, Mitch Morse and Eric Murray won't practice. Allen Bailey will work today. Charcandrick West is back.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) December 7, 2017
West is not the team’s primary back, since Kareem Hunt fills that role, but he’s certainly an important role player who often comes in on third down situations and knows the playbook inside and out. He’s an important special teamer as well who can catch, run and block and spell Hunt when necessary.
West only has 10 carries for 41 rushing yards on the season, but Reid has definitely utilized West more as a pass catching back as West is only 7 targets short of his career high for a single season with 27.