Could Spencer Ware Be a Legitimate Lead Back in the NFL?

There’s a tendency to either tap or slam imaginary brakes after Week 1 of the NFL season. If the Kansas City Chiefs are doing that in their assessment of running back Spencer Ware, they should stop.

He’s shown the potential to be more than just an injury replacement and a seat-warmer as Jamaal Charles goes through the final stages of his ACL-tear recovery. Ware can be a genuine workhorse running back in the NFL.

You know, the kind of running back who’s consistently getting the larger slice of the carry pie regardless of how much name value others on the depth chart carry. And if he maintains anything even close to his current play over Week 1 and the end of 2015, Ware is also the kind of running back who can make a front office re-evaluate long-term team-building options.

He’s a guy who can force you to look at his contract, and then at the one Charles signed. He’ll make you look at his knees, too, and compare them to the shredded limbs Charles is walking around on after tearing both his left and right ACLs.

When it’s all factored in to the jumbled Rubik’s cube that is short- and long-term NFL franchise building, we land on an obvious question: Is Ware becoming the best option for the Chiefs at running back both now and in the future?

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid might have to ponder that question sometime in the near future. For now, he’s a Ware pom-pom waver, just like every Chiefs fan.

“He has a knack for making plays when you need them.”~ Reid on Spencer Ware.

— BJ Kissel (@ChiefsReporter) September 11, 2016

Your initial reaction after rolling around the possibility of Ware taking over in the Chiefs’ backfield is probably to munch on a few member berries, and recall a time when Charles was one of the NFL’s most dynamic running backs.

Of course, you don’t have to flip back far or go to the dark inner caves of your memory for those days of glory. Charles suffered his second ACL tear in 2015, but he posted 1,324 yards from scrimmage in 2014.

But that was a significant tumble down from his 1,980 total yards and 19 touchdowns in 2013. Now, history, time and the ailing body of a soon-to-be 30-year-old (in late December) aren’t on his side, and those are three mighty foes.

Enter Ware, then, who is five years younger (he’ll turn 25 in November) and has logged 99 career touches to Charles’ 1,603. Charles hasn’t just lapped Ware in the touch-count category that’s the true measure of a running back’s age. He’s completed the 24-hour Le Mans race before Ware even gets off the start/finish line.

That’s why as Ware keeps slashing, cutting and being a multidimensional weapon, considering a future with him as the foundational piece in Kansas City’s backfield is more than fair. It’s expected, and it would reflect the sort of front-office foresight every annual playoff-contender needs.

No one should be starting to carve the tombstone for Charles’ career just yet, though. He still has productive years left, even at his age on wonky knees.

But …

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