Little for Jamaal Charles to gain if he plays in Kansas City Chiefs preseason finale

It has yet to be decided whether Jamaal Charles, who has missed the last two preseason games with a minor foot injury, will play in the preseason finale against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night.

"Not sure yet," Chiefs OC Doug Pederson said on Monday. "We haven't made those decisions yet. Coach will make that decision later this week and we'll see."

The decision should be not to play Charles. There is little if anything to gain by putting him in for a series or two. The Chiefs are still tinkering with their offensive line and I can't imagine Alex Smith will play much if at all in the game.

Andy Reid indicated to ESPN's Ed Werder last week that Charles may not play at all in the preseason. So that's what I'm guessing they'll do.

There's just little purpose in playing Charles at this point. Does anyone think his performance in Week 1 will be affected by whether he touches the ball three times on Thursday night? I doubt it. If this were earlier in the preseason, maybe I would encourage him to get some reps. But not at this point.

Charles did dress with the Chiefs in Saturday's preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings but he did not play.