Jamaal Charles fully healthy is bad news for Broncos opponents

The Denver Broncos signed Jamaal Charles this offseason to a low-risk, high reward deal and could soon see the benefits of that move…

A healthy Jamaal Charles is good news for the Denver Broncos.

It’s not so good news for opposing teams…

In an exclusive interview with Troy Renck, Charles revealed that he feels like he’s back to full health. Combined with the Chiefs sized chip on his shoulder, Charles is an intriguing bet for Comeback Player of the Year.

One area where the Broncos have seriously lacked in recent years is a big play threat from the running back position. Obviously, guys like C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker made ‘big plays’ but that threat didn’t seem to be there on a consistent basis.

This season, there might be a perfect storm of circumstances allowing Charles the opportunity to flourish as a home run specialist for this Broncos team, and perhaps more.

Some feel like a fully healthy Jamaal Charles is easily the best back on the Broncos’ roster. He certainly would provide the ‘lightning’ where Anderson and Booker provide the thunder.

The great thing for Charles is, he has the opportunity in Denver to bet on himself with an incentive-laden contract. He also has the opportunity twice this season to stick it to the team that just cut him after he gave the franchise the best years of his NFL career.

NFL running backs don’t often last long after their age 30 season. Injuries and workload are a major reason why running backs have such a short shelf life in today’s game, but the Broncos have a group at running back that can help keep each other fresh.

But the impact Charles is capable of making with long runs and using his pass catching ability out of the backfield could make him hard to keep on the sideline.

The Broncos held Charles out of OTAs as a precautionary measure. He had nothing to gain from practicing at OTAs, and really everything to lose if he re-injured his knee.

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Entering training camp, the Broncos might still monitor Charles’ involvement until closer to the start of preseason games. At that point, he’ll need to get used to the contact a little bit, and really test out the strength of that knee.

In videos he posted this offseason, it didn’t look like Charles’ time away came with the sacrifice of foot quickness. If he’s still got that game-breaking speed, he could wind up giving nightmares to opposing coordinators when they get ready to play the Broncos.