Lammey: The Broncos plan for Jamaal Charles comes down to this week
Aug 22, 2017, 7:37 PM | Updated: 7:39 pm
The Denver Broncos have a plan for running back Jamaal Charles.
For months we weren’t sure what was that plan. The coaches would hint at it, but there were no specifics about when we’d see the veteran running back get a healthy amount of reps in the offseason.
As training camp wore on, we still didn’t see much of Charles. However, last week head coach Vance Joseph revealed that Charles would play in the third preseason game at home Saturday against the Green Bay Packers.
We’ll finally get to fully see what Charles looks like in a Broncos uniform.
How he looks is a different story.
“I’m not sure what we’re going to see on Saturday, but he looked great today,” Joseph said. “He looked great last week. He is wanting to play football, so hopefully, for him, it goes well.”
So will Charles be able to impress enough to make the 53-man roster in one game? Let’s take a look.
What does Jamaal Charles have left in the tank?
This was a question I asked people around the Kansas City Chiefs organization as soon as the Broncos added Charles in free agency. He was one of the best running backs in the league when he was at the top of his game with the Chiefs.
The response was there’s not much left in the tank.
Charles missed most of the past two seasons dealing with problematic knee injuries. During that time, he only appeared in eight games and carried the ball a total of 83 times.
He clearly wasn’t himself last year with the Chiefs, and they decided to give up on him and let him go. The Broncos were among a few select teams looking to add him, as most feared what the Chiefs believed — that Charles was done.
Patience in practice
There’s no question the Broncos have not rushed Charles back into action. Throughout all of training camp, he barely touched the ball.
Some days he’d get some work in 7-on-7 drills while other days only getting work as the team was warming up. There were even days when Charles was seen without a helmet on what essentially was a veteran rest day.
Charles did get very limited work in team drills during training camp. I could count on one hand the times I saw him carry the ball in such a drill. During 7-on-7 drills, Charles might be targeted for a pass here or there, but it wasn’t much.
During training camp — including the Broncos joint practices with the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California — I never saw Charles really cut at full speed.
He showed great speed in a straight line and certainly still has sweet feet when it comes to foot frequency and getting to top speed in a hurry. However, I just wanted to see Charles cut sharply and burst out of that cut.
He did get banged around just a tiny bit on ‘thud’ days (no live tackling) during training camp.
Charles never said it, but one would have to imagine that he’s frustrated with the waiting game the Broncos have put him through.
First-team looks on Saturday
Joseph said Charles would get some action early against the Packers on Saturday night.
The third week of the preseason is considered the “dress rehearsal” for the regular season. That means the starting lineup for the Broncos will play much longer than they did in the first two preseason games.
We should see the Broncos starters play at least one half of football against the Packers. On Tuesday, Joseph said Charles would be in that mix.
“He’s going to be involved early. Probably during the first 15 (plays),” Joseph said.
Starting running back C.J. Anderson said he is excited to see what Charles can do on Saturday.
“Jamaal is a special player, and we know that,” Anderson said. “The opportunity that he is going to get this weekend is a going to be exciting.”
He added: “Hopefully, with me and him switching off and on, we can put the one-two punch together.”
