KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Every action and inaction the Kansas City Chiefs took in recent months with running back Jamaal Charles suggested they thought the productive portion of his football career was over.
That opinion won't change with the news that Charles will indeed continue his playing career, with the Denver Broncos no less. But it doesn't mean the Chiefs are necessarily happy that they will play against Charles twice next season.
This move has the potential to make the Chiefs look bad. It won't go over well with their fans if Charles has at least one more brilliant season and it comes while he's playing for the Broncos and against the Chiefs.
There's a better chance the Chiefs are vindicated by the way Charles plays this season. Charles is 30, the age when many backs have lost at least a portion of their skills. He's in his second year of trying to reestablish his career after his torn right ACL from 2015. At least some of the NFL teams must agree with the Chiefs that Charles is finished because he's been looking for a job for about two months.
The knee issues are a lot for any player to overcome, even Charles. But it's unwise to doubt his resolve. He returned from his 2011 torn ACL better than ever, though he was much younger then.
No matter. This is a high-risk, low-reward game for the Chiefs. They no longer wanted Charles, one of the greatest players in franchise history, around. They failed to activate him toward the end of last season even though he was eligible to come off the injured reserve list. They released him a couple of months ago even though they're desperate for a back with his skills, or at least those he once had.
The Chiefs have moved on. They signed veteran C.J. Spiller and drafted Kareem Hunt in the third round. They join Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West, their main featured backs in each of the past two seasons.
It's still going to uncomfortable for the Chiefs to see Charles in late October on a Monday night at Arrowhead Stadium and then in the season's final game in Denver. It was uncomfortable for them to play against Tony Gonzalez when he came to Arrowhead Stadium in 2012 as a member of the Atlanta Falcons, particularly when he scored a touchdown and dunked the ball over the goalpost afterward, as he had done so many times before at Arrowhead as a member of the Chiefs.
That was a one-time deal, though. A motivated and revitalized Charles could cause the Chiefs regret multiple times.
There's no reason for the Chiefs to wish Charles ill. This was not an acrimonious parting.
It still would have been better for the Chiefs if Charles was playing for an NFC team, as Gonzalez did after leaving the Chiefs. Instead, he's nearby and nothing good can come from that.