Knile Davis' Emergence Gives Chiefs Deadly RB Duo, Plenty of Options on Offense

At the NFL scouting combine in February, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said that the team would plan to utilize Knile Davis, a rookie in 2013, more in 2014 than it did last season. 

When Jamaal Charles suffered what Reid termed a high-ankle sprain in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos, via Chiefs.com writer BJ Kissel, those opportunities for Davis came earlier than expected.

After getting one carry and one reception in the season opener against the Tennessee Titans, Davis had 22 attempts for 79 yards and two touchdowns against the Broncos, with another six receptions for 26 yards. 

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

He followed it up with a 132-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Miami Dolphins in Week 3, the only game this season that Charles has sat out completely. 

Charles was active Monday night against the New England Patriots, but rather than let him take the bulk of the work, the Chiefs employed a potent one-two punch in the backfield.

The two backs had nearly 200 yards between them, and while Charles proved to be the go-to scorer, with a rushing touchdown and a pair of touchdown catches, Davis moved the offense down the field, averaging 6.7 yards per carry. 

The balance Davis and Charles brought not only to the Chiefs backfield but also to the offense as a whole, which had 443 total yards and saw Alex Smith enjoy opportunities in the passing game that were set up by the successful run game, indicates that Kansas City should continue to distribute touches evenly between the two. 

	Jamaal Charles	Knile Davis
Carries	18	16
Rushing Yards	92	107
Yards per Carry	5.1	6.7
Rushing TDs	1	0
Receptions	3	1
Receiving Yards	16	12
Yards per Reception	5.3	12
Receiving TDs	2	0

Reid's offseason comments suggested even before Charles' injury this season that the Chiefs were moving toward reducing his workload. Charles had the eighth-most carries of any running back last season, with 259. He also tied for the lead in touchdowns among running backs, with 12. 

But Reid wanted to get Davis, a third-round 2013 draft pick, more involved in the offense. 

"Knile was a rookie and he was learning every week and getting better every week," Reid said in February, per ESPN.com's Adam Teicher. "As the season went on we were able to give him the ball a little bit more. Coming into this season, we’ll be able to mix it up a little bit better than what we did early in the season last year."

Mixing it up has worked so far for Kansas City's offense. The two backs complement each other, skill-wise. Davis is the bigger bruiser who can make defenders miss—he's tied for the fifth-most forced missed tackles among running backs with 12, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). 

Charles, of course, is the multi-threat whether he's asked to run the ball or catch passes out of the backfield, and has the proven nose for the end zone. 

Both are burn-you fast. 

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick experienced that firsthand in the blowout loss Monday night. Earlier in the week, Belichick, one of the league's best in evaluating personnel, characterized how the two backs complement one another before the game. 

"They’re different skill sets, but they do the same things with them so the same plays look different depending on who is carrying the ball," Belichick said, via 0987ui89.

"They’re different, but they’re both very good. They both can hit the home-run ball. They’re both very dangerous."

Dangerous is the right word. Because the Chiefs can use Davis and Charles on similar plays, defenses have to prepare for multiple scenarios depending on which back is in for the snap.

That kind of versatility helped propel Kansas City's offense to a win over New England. 

As Teicher noted after the game, "the Chiefs utilized Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis liberally in the same game for the first time, and the results were impressive." Though Kansas City has had opportunities before Monday night's game to get both players heavily involved in the offense, the win over the Patriots was really the first time we've seen it since Davis was drafted. 

Both players have had recent injuries, and it's a good insurance policy for Kansas City to know that if one goes down, the other can step up and carry a game alone.

But utilizing Davis and Charles together as the Chiefs did Monday is the strategy to take going forward to attack stout fronts and open up the offense.