The Kansas City Chiefs and fantasy football owners have lost Jamaal Charles to an ACL injury and now players like Charcandrick West, Knile Davis, TJ Yeldon, Shane Vereen and Theo Riddick could be replacement options for fantasy teams. The Chiefs are working out free agents Pierre Thomas and Ben Tate and one those players also could be an option if they are signed by the team.
Charles was injured on Sunday and the initial fear for the Chiefs was that Charles suffered a torn ACL injury and medical tests later confirmed that fear. According to ESPN.com, Adam Schefter reports that an MRI confirmed that Charles tore his ACL and now will be out for the season. While the Chiefs now could sign a free agent running back, the team currently has Charcandrick West and Knile Davis as options to step in right away for Week 6.
West and Davis are solid options for fantasy owners to pick up with Charles out and once the Chiefs play again, team owners can see who ends up the lead back. Based on last season it likely would be Davis, but according to the Kansas City Star, head coach Andy Reid sees West as a better option. The report says that Reid thinks West is closer in style to Charles and could replace him, while Davis is who "you want to go downhill with." For now fantasy owners should look at West as a better option than Davis, but that could change after this week.
West comes in with 12 rushes for 48 yards this season and two catches for nine yards in five games played. Davis has 27 yards rushing this season on 11 carries and he has one catch for 12 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Davis has some added value as a return man and fantasy owners could look at that as a worthy reason to pick him up. For fantasy owners that are not quick enough to snag either Davis or West, there could be some other names to look at to help replace Charles, at least for a week or two.
Yeldon is coming off of a solid game for the Jaguars and he had 63 yards and a receiving touchdown for the team in Week 5. Yeldon had his best game of the season in Week 4 with 105 yards rushing and he has emerged as the starting running back for Jacksonville. This season Yeldon has 291 rushing yards and he has also been solid out of the backfield with 15 catches for 73 yards and a TD.
Theo Riddick is a strong PPR pickup for fantasy owners and players that really need to make up for Charles being out (he is great at catching passes from the backfield) could look at Riddick or Shane Vereen as options. Both players are very strong at being receivers out of the RB position and this week Riddick showed that with 10 catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Riddick was targeted 13 times and with the Lions struggling, he could see more work against the Bears in Week 6. Vereen helped the Giants win against the Niners with eight catches for 86 yards and a TD on Sunday night.
Check here for more on the Chiefs, the injury to Charles and other options for fantasy football in Week 6.