Dexter McCluster: Fantasy Projections for Jamaal's Charles Former Backup

With the season ending injury to Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs find themselves looking around to see who might fill in for him.

Fantasy owners are doing the same. Both groups should be looking at Dexter McCluster.

The second year running back out of Mississippi isn't a traditional 'bell cow,' high carry running back, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to be able to do a lot for this offense.

In fact, if used properly, McCluster might be almost as effective as Charles had been this season, maybe more.

McCluster has tremendous speed and burst to get to and through the hole, but he also has the speed to get around the edge as well. Once he gets into space, his vision and agility make him hard to catch.

While McCluster still needs some work on blocking, he'll see a lot of work on third downs. That's because he's a tremendous pass catcher and again, if they can get him the ball in space and in the open, he is tremendously difficult to stop.

McCluster is still listed as a wide receiver in some leagues so he could be a sneaky start in a pinch, if also one of dubious morality.

McCluster is nowhere near as versatile or good as Jamaal Charles. That said, he can do a lot of different things that will generate a ton of fantasy points.

As bad as the season has been so far for Kansas City, they have a few games coming up that look like they could be 'get right' games for KC.

Both the Vikings and of course the Colts can be run on over the next few weeks. Same for the Broncos and Dolphins.

Even in the case of a very scary matchup, McCluster's skill set allows him to still be a factor. There's a good chance that the Chiefs fall behind against a team like the Steelers or Jets and have to throw the ball a lot. McCluster could be a frequent target for quarterback Matt Cassel as he will be under pressure.

McCluster will be able to gain yards and in a point per reception league can probably put up some big points even in a loss.

Andrew Garda is a staff writer for Footballguys.com. Check out all their rankings, projections and strategy articles daily for the latest updates.