While the Kansas City Chiefs wait to confirm Jamaal Charles' knee injury is an ACL tear, as feared, the question becomes where to turn at the running back position.
While many lay football fans will automatically assume Knile Davis will take over the role, Charcandrick West has actually been Charles' backup the last several weeks.
After Charles' injury in the second half of Sunday's 18-17 loss to the Chicago Bears, West took 18 snaps, Davis took four, per Pro Football Focus.
West, a second-year back, said he expects both to play if Charles is lost for the season.
"We haven't heard anything," West said, via the Kansas City Star. "They told us -- me and Knile -- we're both going to play, we both have to be ready to step up. We know our big brother went down, so it's time for us to step up."
Prior to this week, coach Andy Reid said West took over the backup role because, in part, he was better in the passing game. Davis hadn't taken an offensive snap in the previous two weeks. Reid insisted after the game that K.C. will run a committee in Charles' absence.
"I'm not saying who is or is not the feature guy, but we need both of them," Reid said. "Both their games are different. We'll just see how that goes. You saw both of them played today, so we'll got back to the drawing board on that and get it right."
West has a leg up and should get the chance to earn the bulk of the carries. He showed flashes in the preseason and averaged 4.4 yards per carry on seven totes in relief Sunday.
Whoever gets the call, could struggle. The Chiefs offense went in the tank after Charles exited. Without the game-breaking back to occupy the defense, teams can load up to stop Alex Smith's quick passing attack. We will see if Reid and Smith decide to get further away from their horizontal passing attack now that they don't have Charles to lean on.
