Offensive Line concerns in KC

[gitrdun 16]

Stevenson has been suspended for 4 games. This is already weak offensive line. Does this effect Charles value?

[GS3K 12]

Of course it does, Andy Reid has a really good scheme but when the first contact is potentially coming behind the line of scrimmage it's not going to bode well for fantasy success.

[giraldi02 470]

It won't garner enough traction prior to fantasy drafts, but yes this is a major concern in my opinion. Personally, I think the offensive line was already a reason why I have Charles behind the other three (McCoy,AP,Forte). This doesn't help matters given the struggles by Eric Fisher after they lost three linemen from a season ago (Albert/Schwartz/Asamoah). As Andy Reid learned two years ago, limited depth on the offensive line is a fast-pass for a catastrophic season.

Charles is a superb athlete that can probably make plays regardless, but I think he's a prime candidate to fall out of the top 10 this season. The Chiefs over-performed last season with an opportunistic defense and a weak schedule. I'd still take Charles in the top four...but news like this should be weighed in the decision

[weepaws 2,460]

Yes it should

[Ray_T 591]

yes, of course it does.

 

Charles will still be a solid fantasy starter. but without the strong line, I'd say he's not gonna be elite.

[thunderball 0]

charles is a home run guy every time he touches the ball. he is not an inside runner so all of his big scores come from screens and sweeps. obviously oline problems are never good for rbs but i think like a guy like charles it doesn't hurt him as much (still hurts). he is their offense and the points will be there, not sure about the tds like last year but he is fantasy gold. i will take 70 rec and 600 yds, 1200 rush and 13-16 total td any day of the week for a top 4 pick.

 

pick with confidence

[tanatastic 2,061]

Half the first rnd rbs bust every year, this is enough for me to hold off on Charles. Bumping him off my list and moving Lacy up to 3. It's easy to say just move him down a spot but you don't want a bust on your team at all really, regardless of value.

[NEWPOSTERGUY! 267]

charles is a home run guy every time he touches the ball. he is not an inside runner so all of his big scores come from screens and sweeps. obviously oline problems are never good for rbs but i think like a guy like charles it doesn't hurt him as much (still hurts). he is their offense and the points will be there, not sure about the tds like last year but he is fantasy gold. i will take 70 rec and 600 yds, 1200 rush and 13-16 total td any day of the week for a top 4 pick.

 

pick with confidence

 

owned him last year, and it was a great ride to the title

 

but ... he didn't hit any homeruns via the ground last year ... i believe his longest TD run was 35 or so yards. sure, in the Oakland game (week 15) he went batsh!t with the 4 scores on swings/screens ... they covered a lot of ground.

 

point being, he WAS more of a between the tackles runner last year , and the excellence of that o-line in 2013 cannot be dismissed. the biggest change was that he took damn near all the red zone touches, ergo his TD totals soared, pretty much doubling his career high. Fat Andy used him perfectly

 

he is a super elite talent, no slag on his skills, but ... the upheaval in KC's o-line does give me pause ... imo, the top 3 guys heading into this year's draft are Shady/JC/Forte - now i throw Lacy into the mix with Charles, as i grade Forte/Shady 1 and 2.

 

still a great building block for your first round pick, no doubt ... but can't see him going in top 3 right now.

[FakeFoozballIzFun 6]

It does hurt his value but probably the least out of any other RB. They're just going to run more screens to Charles to take the pressure off.