Decision to Rush Back Jamaal Charles Would Be Panic Move by Reeling Chiefs

Not much has gone right for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014.

After making the playoffs last year, the Chiefs have lurched and sputtered their way to a 0-2 record to start this season. Injuries have hit the team hard on both sides of the ball.

One of those walking wounded was a surprise return to the practice field Thursday. While many have hailed the potential return of running back Jamaal Charles to the field much sooner than expected as great news, the fact is it's a huge mistake just waiting to happen.

ESPN's Adam Teicher broke the news that Charles was back at practice only four days after suffering what was originally diagnosed as a high-ankle sprain:

Teicher offered more details after watching Charles participate in the portion of practice open to the media:

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Charles went through warm-ups with his teammates and was then tended to briefly by trainer Rick Burkholder before joining the running backs for position drills. One such drill involved cutting through cones to catch a pass. Charles did this several times and appeared to pass these tests without a problem.

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It's a remarkable turn of events, given that only a few days ago it wasn't so much a matter of whether Charles would miss time as it was how long the 27-year-old would be out.

After the Chiefs fell 24-17 to the Denver Broncos last week, head coach Andy Reid indicated to reporters, per Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com, that Charles had a high-ankle sprain, but "it doesn't look to be a real severe" one.

Monday's MRI on Charles' ankle was reportedly negative, but as Dr. Jene Bramel of Football Guys pointed out, that certainly didn't mean Charles was in the clear:

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Charles' Monday MRI was reportedly negative. That's a little misleading. The MRI certainly showed damage to the ligament injured in high ankle sprain. I believe the "negative" report is simply telling us that Charles has no major structural issues in his lower leg, i.e. no small fractures, no complete ligament tears. Andy Reid hinted that Charles' high ankle sprain isn't severe, which would back up my read of the MRI comment.

But a mild high ankle sprain is a finicky thing. Some players -- Andre Johnson and Matt Forte in past seasons, Toby Gerhart last week -- can muddle through well enough. Others -- C.J. Spiller and Roddy White last year immediately come to mind -- struggle to change direction and accelerate for weeks despite being cleared to play.

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Ankle sprains can also be rather easily re-aggravated. In the video below, Bleacher Report Lead Writer for Sports Medicine Will Carroll reveals that he believes that Charles' injury Sunday was actually a re-aggravation of an existing problem.

I asked Carroll whether playing Charles Sunday against the Dolphins would further risk making the problem even worse:

Granted, Carroll's answer highlights an important thing to consider. None of us are inside the Kansas City locker room, nor have we seen the MRI on Charles' ankle.

Even so, it doesn't take inside information to posit that the Chiefs are playing with fire where Charles is concerned.

It's understandable that the Chiefs want Charles on the field. As Pat Kirwan of CBS Sports recently wrote, "Since 1990 only 23 of the 198 teams that started 0-2 made the playoffs, giving a 12 percent chance of recovering from that poor of a start."

Another loss this week against the Dolphins, and the Chiefs' already dim hopes of getting back to the playoffs are toast.

Charles is without question the fulcrum on which the Kansas City offense pivots. Of the Chiefs' 5,396 yards of total offense in 2013, Charles accounted for 1,980, or 36.7 percent.

That's a staggering number for a running back in today's pass-wacky NFL.

However, the Chiefs also have a more than capable backup for Charles in second-year pro Knile Davis. Davis gained 105 total yards and scored two touchdowns in last week's loss to the Broncos. In last year's playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Davis had 100 total yards and two scores after Charles exited the game with a concussion.

Reid told Teicher after the Denver game that he had no reservations about giving Davis a heavy workload against the Dolphins this week:

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I don’t think it will change much from what you saw (Sunday)," Reid said of Davis' likely role in Miami. "He was involved in a lot of different areas. I’m not saying number of carries or anything, but you saw him going in and playing a few different ways.

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No one's saying that Davis is as good as Charles. But, as backups go, you could do a lot worse.

In fact, as Bleacher Report AFC West Lead Writer Christopher Hansen recently opined, a healthy Davis may actually give the Chiefs a better chance of winning this week than a hobbled Charles:

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The Chiefs have to be cautious with Charles and may even need to protect him from himself to preserve his production. He isn’t off to a great start in 2014, and he’ll probably want to get back in there as soon as he can. That actually might hurt the team, because a healthy Davis might be better than Charles if he's at something a lot less than 100 percent.

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Simply put, starting Charles over Davis this week reeks of panic. If the Chiefs can't beat a so-so Dolphins team with Davis at tailback, then playoff aspirations aren't something the team needs to be concerned about anyway.

What Reid and the Chiefs should be concerned about is a situation like this:

So take a deep breath, Andy, and give Jamaal Charles a week (at least) to get right.

Because enough things have already gone wrong for the Chiefs in 2014 without adding boneheaded, short-sighted decisions to the list.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPManor.