It seems like a long time since we had a Pro Bowl, First-Team All-Pro in our backfield. I'm sure the Chiefs would have a better record and would be in all of the games this year. Instead, the fans have to wait and wonder. We have to wonder if Jamaal Charles will be as effective and explosive as we know him to be. It is unheard of to have a back take the ball 500 times and have a 6.1 career yard per carry average. It is so unfortunate that a promising career hangs in the balance of an ACL injury.
I wanted to dig deeper on ACL's and how they effect running backs. What is an ACL you ask? An Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury is a tear in one of the ligaments in the knee that joins the upper and lower leg bone. What is the ACL's function? Well, in short it helps keep the knee stable. This injury ranges in severity from a minor tear to severe tear from the bone. There are a lot of factors when looking at a player and how effective their rehab will be. A couple of these factors include age, past injuries, and patience.
I wanted to highlight 9 various careers of running backs who had ACL injuries. I want to first look at these guys the year before their injury.
Player |
Games Played |
Rushes Attended |
Rushing Yards |
Rushing Yards Per Carry |
Touchdowns |
Longest Rushing Gain |
Curt Warner* |
16 |
335 |
1449 |
4.3 |
13 |
60 |
Jamal Anderson* |
16 |
410 |
1846 |
4.5 |
14 |
48 |
Terrell Davis* |
16 |
392 |
2008 |
5.1 |
21 |
70 |
Olandis Gary |
12 |
276 |
1159 |
4.2 |
7 |
71 |
Edgerrin James* |
16 |
387 |
1709 |
4.4 |
13 |
30 |
Jamal Lewis |
16 |
309 |
1364 |
4.4 |
6 |
45 |
Dominic Rhodes |
15 |
233 |
1104 |
4.7 |
9 |
77 |
Ronnie Brown |
13 |
241 |
1008 |
4.2 |
5 |
47 |
Kevin Smith |
16 |
238 |
976 |
4.1 |
8 |
50 |
Jamaal Charles* |
16 |
230 |
1467 |
6.4 |
5 |
80 |
* Pro Bowl Appearance
I think that most of you will recognize all of those names on the list. So out of 9 (excluding Charles) players 4 of them had Pro Bowl years before their ACL injury. We can all agree that even the players who didn't make the Pro Bowl had decent years. Now, let's compare the year after the ACL injuries.
Player |
Games Played |
Rushes Attended |
Rushing Yards |
Rushing Yards Per Carry |
Touchdowns |
Longest Rushing Gain |
Curt Warner |
16 |
291 |
1094 |
3.8 |
8 |
38 |
Jamal Anderson |
16 |
282 |
1024 |
3.6 |
6 |
42 |
Terrell Davis |
5 |
78 |
282 |
3.6 |
2 |
24 |
Olandis Gary |
9 |
57 |
228 |
4.0 |
1 |
29 |
Edgerrin James |
14 |
277 |
989 |
3.6 |
2 |
20 |
Jamal Lewis |
16 |
308 |
1327 |
4.3 |
6 |
75 |
Dominic Rhodes |
11 |
37 |
157 |
4.2 |
0 |
25 |
Ronnie Brown* |
16 |
214 |
916 |
4.3 |
10 |
62 |
Kevin Smith |
6 |
34 |
133 |
3.9 |
0 |
15 |
* Pro Bowl Attended
Curt Warner was only in his 2nd season when he had an ACL injury. So here we see it was his 3rd year. He declined in every area from before the injury yet still had a pretty good year. Jamal Anderson was in his 6th season when he had his ACL injury. He also declined in every area from before the injury. I'm still calling it a decent year though. Terrell Davis was in his 5th season when he had an ACL injury. He was coming off one of the best years of any running back of all time. He declined by a ton due to lower leg injury in 2000.
Olandis Gary was in his 2nd season when he got injured. His year back he declined but still had a decent yard per carry average. Edgerrin James was in his 3rd year when he had an ACL injury. He declined a lot his first year back. Jamal Lewis was injured after his rookie year. However, Lewis kind of beat the odds on this one. He went from a 1364 yard, 4.4 YPC, 6 TD season to a 1327 yard, 4.3, 6 TD season. Dominic Rhodes was also injured after his rookie year. He declined by a lot in every area.
Ronnie Brown was injured in his 3rd year. In his first year back he is the only one who made the Pro Bowl on the list. He seemed to be more explosive on the field than before. Kevin Smith got injured during his 2nd season. In his first year back he only played 6 games for the Lions not really doing much of anything with his attempts. Now, let's look at each player's 2nd year removed from an ACL injury.
Player |
Games Played |
Rushes Attended |
Rushing Yards |
Rushing Yards Per Carry |
Touchdowns |
Longest Rushing Gain |
Curt Warner* |
16 |
319 |
1481 |
4.6 |
13 |
60 |
Jamal Anderson |
3 |
55 |
190 |
3.5 |
1 |
14 |
Terrell Davis |
8 |
167 |
701 |
4.2 |
0 |
57 |
Olandis Gary |
13 |
37 |
147 |
4.0 |
1 |
26 |
Edgerrin James |
13 |
310 |
1259 |
4.1 |
11 |
43 |
Jamal Lewis* |
16 |
387 |
2066 |
5.3 |
14 |
82 |
Dominic Rhodes |
16 |
53 |
254 |
4.8 |
1 |
55 |
Ronnie Brown* |
9 |
147 |
648 |
4.4 |
8 |
45 |
Kevin Smith** |
3 |
27 |
195 |
7.2 |
2 |
43 |
* Pro Bowl Attended
** This Season
Curt Warner played for 6 seasons after his injury. He had some good years mixed with some bad years. He had his best year as a pro in 1986 as seen in the directly above chart. Jamal Anderson only played for 2 more years (in the chart above being his last) in the NFL. He could never match his Pro Bowl year before the injury. Terrell Davis only played for 2 more years after his injury. He couldn't stay healthy after 4 amazing years running the ball.
Olandis Gary's career was cut short to only 5 years in the NFL. After his rookie year 1159 yard campaign he never got over 400 yards in his remaining 4 years. Edgerrin James played for 8 more years after his ACL injury. He went to back to back Pro Bowls in 2004 and 2005. However, he could never match his monster year before the injury. Jamal Lewis is just a freak of an athlete. Lewis' second year back from an ACL injury he has one of the best years of any running back with 2066 yards and 14 touchdowns. This should give us some hope about Charles' injury.
Dominic Rhodes played for 7 more years but was only a role player never going over 650 yards in any season after his 1104 yard rookie year. Ronnie Brown is still playing in the NFL today. He has never matched his yard total from before the injury. Kevin Smith is still playing in the NFL and in only 3 games this year has a lower leg injury that is so common in previous ACL injured players.
These tables are just something to look at. I know there are a lot of factors such as the role in their team and their team's schedule. That's why I gave you kind of an overview of their career. This just goes to show you that with this sample size there is a mixed bag on how effective running backs will be. There are a lot of factors that will go into play in regard to Jamaal Charles. Will he put up the numbers we are used to seeing? I sure hope so. Is it likely after such an injury? As you've seen here some players bounce back fine and have their best years. We've also seen players who just can't seen to stay healthy. I can say for sure that Jamaal Charles has a winning attitude and wants to help the Chiefs to wins. That's all that we can ask for as this point.