Jamaal Charles will reportedly sign 1-day contract to retire with Kansas City Chiefs

Rumors are swirling that Jamaal Charles is reportedly set to sign a one-day contract with the Kansas City Chiefs so he can retire with the team.

Jamaal Charles is reportedly ready to call it a career. Kansas City’s own 610 Sports is reporting that the franchise legend will be signing a one-day contract with the team in order to be able to officially retire as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Over the last two offseasons, Charles has attempted to prolong his career. He earned a stint with the Denver Broncos, who signed him just following the 2017 NFL Draft. Charles was fairly miserable by the season’s end and expressed frustration at not being used. The next season, he earned a look with the Jacksonville Jaguars for a few weeks but that didn’t last long and he remained a free agent for the majority of last season.

When healthy, Charles had no equal at running back during his NFL career. A former 3rd round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, Charles displayed an incredible combination of speed, agility, vision and burst at the position. He very quickly became the most dangerous man in space in football, earning over 1,100 rushing yards in just his second season in the league.

By the time he was 24 and into his third season, he’d earned his first Pro Bowl and came just short of putting up 2,000 yards from scrimmage for the Chiefs in 2010. He even did so averaging 6.4 yards/carry when the Chiefs offense had little else to show for it. Unfortunately he was surrounded by a miserable roster and coaching staff who could never capture his lightning in those early years to leverage it toward team success.

Andy Reid arrived in 2013, and Charles responded with two more Pro Bowl seasons with his new head coach before injuries took over. Charles made his fourth and final Pro Bowl in 2014, a year in which he had 9 rushing scores and 1,030 rushing yards. From there, Charles would tear his ACL in Week 5 of the following season and his career would never get back on track. Charles would only play in 8 total games over 2015-16 before being cut loose by the Chiefs the following offseason.

Charles will retire as the Chiefs’ all-time leader in rushing yards with 7,260. He also has the single longest rush of all time of 91 yards. Charles will also retire as one of the NFL’s most productive running backs of all time with an astounding 5.4 yards/carry for his career—first among all backs ever. It’s a tremendous stat that shows just how electric Charles was in his prime.

It remains to be seen if Charles will ever enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but there’s no doubt at all that the Chiefs will be honoring Charles soon enough in their Ring of Honor.