The Kansas City Chiefs have officially ended Jamaal Charles‘ season by designating ILB Justin March-Lillard to return from IR. There had been a great amount of hope in the Chiefs Kingdom that Charles would be the player the Chiefs designated to return from IR to finish out the season, as per NFL rules one player can be designated to return from IR. However, after the Chiefs lost Derrick Johnson against the hated Raiders a couple of weeks ago, inside linebacker became a much greater need than running back. Ultimately this more than likely doesn’t just end Charles’ season, it may also end his career in Kansas City. The chart below comes courtesy of Overthecap.com.

As you can see at the bottom, the Chiefs stand to save $7 million in cap space next year if Charles is released. For a 31 year old running back, who has basically only played in 5 games the last 2 seasons, that’s a large amount of salary cap space; especially for a Chiefs team that is going to be fairly cap strapped next season. As a Chiefs fan I love Jamaal. He’s one of my favorite players, and individual people ever to wear the uniform for the Kansas City Chiefs. I hate to see his season, and most likely his career (at least in KC), end this way. For a full review of the Chiefs’ decision and more details on the move, check out this article from NFL.com.

Go Chiefs!

-McLuckie