Posted on Joel's behalf. He's traveling today. -Chris
This is about right for the Kansas City Chiefs preseason MVP: The third running back.
Jackie Battle entered the 2010 NFL preseason battling with Javarris Williams and Kestahn Moore. Early on, if you had asked me, I would have said that the third running back job would be going to Moore.
Of course he was released in the first round of cuts (which shows why I'm not a NFL GM).
Battle has clearly been the best of that bunch in the final three preseason games. Click Continue Reading for more....
In the second game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had 11 carries for 59 yards and had a very solid first half. His long was 21 yards and he kept up a nice 5.4 yards per carry average.
In the third game, Battle carried the ball 10 times for 49 yards. Again, he had a nice yards per carry average and broke off a 21-yard run.
In the final game on Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers, Jackie Battle rushed the football for 67 yards on ten carries. While it wasn't his best performance - 17 of those yards came on 9 of those carries - he sealed his fate as a Chiefs' 53-man roster member.
What I found interesting was that the Chiefs, on a couple of occasions, put him in with the first team offense to get a short first down. Even in the preseason, that's a good sign that you're doing something right as a backup.
Battle is also a heck of a special teams player. He's one of those guys that, even though he may not play a role with the first team, will still make a difference.
Todd Haley said recently that Battle was "trying to get himself noticed" with his preseason play. Generally, if Haley is mentioning you by name it's probably a pretty good thing.