Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid thought Jamaal Charleshad a chance to return from his mildly strained foot for Tuesday's practice. That didn't happen.
Although Charles remained sidelined, it's now clear that the star running back's injury is minor. After being evaluated by two orthopedic doctors, Charles is listed as "day to day." The Chiefs have ruled out any long-term issue such as a Lisfranc injury, Adam Teicher of The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday.
"His ankle ligaments were fine," Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder explained. "He had some pain on the outside bone of his foot. We did an X-ray. That was negative. There's a tendon that attaches right at that spot and that's what is sore right now. That's why we call it a strain."
Charles might be back on the field as soon as Wednesday, but we still would expect the Chiefs to play it cautiously and hold him out of Friday's game against the San Francisco 49ers.
As the movable chess piece taking on the Brian Westbrook/LeSean McCoy role in Reid's offense, Charles is the one skill-position player the Chiefs can ill afford to lose. Reid will try to dictate coverages and exploit mismatches by lining up Charles as a traditional tailback, as the deep back in the pistol, as a slot receiver and even split out wide.
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