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Who will be the Kansas City Chiefs back up running backs?

By Lyle Graversen

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Charcandrick West #35 of Kansas City Chiefs celebrates scoring a touchdown during the NFL game between Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions at Wembley Stadium on November 01, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Charcandrick West #35 of Kansas City Chiefs celebrates scoring a touchdown during the NFL game between Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions at Wembley Stadium on November 01, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images) /
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BATON ROUGE, LA – NOVEMBER 11: Darrel Williams #28 of the LSU Tigers is tackled by Kamren Curl #2 of the Arkansas Razorbacks at Tiger Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA – NOVEMBER 11: Darrel Williams #28 of the LSU Tigers is tackled by Kamren Curl #2 of the Arkansas Razorbacks at Tiger Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Darrel Williams

Perhaps the most exciting Williams that the Chiefs signed this offseason is the undrafted rookie Darrel Williams out of LSU. While Williams was never the featured back during his time at LSU playing behind Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice, he still had enough college production to make him one to watch in training camp.

Last season, Guice got the majority of the carries and media attention on his way to rushing for 1,284 yards and a second round selection by the Washington Redskins. Darrel Williams came off the bench and still rushed for 820 yards last season, just 400 less than Guice. His yards per carry was actually slightly better than Guice’s (5.7 to 5.3), but some of that has to be credited to the fact that Williams saw a fair share of his carries late in games after the outcome was already set. Still, he totaled 9 rushing touchdowns which was just two shy of Guice’s total as well.

The other thing that is intriguing about Williams is that he is a true power runner between the tackles. The Chiefs list Darrel at 6-foot-1 and 229 pounds. If you watch just a few seconds of his highlights below you see a power runner unlike almost all the other running backs on the Chiefs roster. Only Hunt and a healthy Ware would be able to challenge Darrel Williams in terms of power between the tackles, so that gives him a chance to prove some value that some of the other backs competing for a job cannot.

Will Darrel be able to have similar success between the tackles in the NFL? We’ll have to wait and see but he is certainly worth watching. If he does prove himself worthy, he could ultimately make Ware expendable. If the Chiefs had their star in Hunt, a pass catching third down back (Damien Williams), and then Darrel Williams as a short yardage power back that might be the complete package and they could save money by cutting both Ware and West. Then again, Ware could prove to be healthy and West could beat out Damien and the Chiefs could end up cutting all of the Williams they signed.

The bottom line is that the Chiefs back up running back positions are probably the most highly contested spots on this roster and I can’t wait for training camp to see how things shake out. Do you have favorites that you believe in or are rooting for to make the team? Do you agree with my general assessments of these five guys? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!

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