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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs were rolling through another OTA practice at their facility in the Truman Sports Complex on Wednesday. The sun was scorching, the humidity was up and Andy Reid's team was working up an offseason sweat. Running back Jamaal Charles was working up the day's soggiest workout shirt. But he wasn't on the field. Charles was running up and down a steep hill that sits next to the team's facility.
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It's all part of his rehab from last October's ACL injury and subsequent surgery. It was his second ACL tear in five years.
"It's a killer," Reid said of Charles' work. "He says that he gets about halfway up that hill and he wished the hill stopped. It's a brutal workout that he's putting himself through, but it's an important thing.
"He plays a rugged position and he's coming off a major injury and that's one way of getting the legs back."
Charles went down in the fifth game of the 2015 season against Chicago. Surgery came a few weeks later. The Chiefs offense was looking at the rest of the season without its No. 1 offensive weapon.
But remarkably two unknowns -- Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware -- filled the void with surprising results. Their work out of the backfield helped the Chiefs win 10 straight to finish the regular season and then a first-round victory in the playoffs.
If Charles can bounce back from the injury, suddenly the Chiefs have a crowded situation at running back. And, that's with former third-round draft choice (2013) Knile Davis looking in from the outside.
A fistful of options is a plus for Reid and his offense because Charles, West and Ware can all do different things and can be used in varying ways.
"I feel like we really feed off each other," said Ware, a former Seattle Seahawks draft choice. "It's a big family; we're brothers in that room and we prepare for war together.
"There's competition, but it's not competition individually. It's as a group, saying, 'Let's do our job and let's score touchdowns and get over 150 yards on the ground. It doesn't matter how it's done, let's just get it done and on top of that, get the W.'"
Ware wrapped up the season with 408 yards and 78 touches with six touchdowns. West finished with 848 yards the 180 times he handled the ball, with five touchdowns.
"The thing about this offense is we have a lot of plays that all run together," West said. "We just have to listen and hear one thing; you can't mess around and do the wrong thing. You really have to listen to the whole play call and understand the whole scheme ... that's what we are getting done."
Ware and West know their opportunities in the offense will shrink, but they aren't worried about that because those chances will be in the hands of Charles.
"It's competitive and I don't think a soul on this planet is worried about Jamaal being ready for football," West said. "We all know what he's capable of doing."
