THURSDAY, 3:28pm: Only the 2014 season is guaranteed for Charles, a league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. However, that guarantee is $8.3MM, a nice upgrade from the $3.9MM he was set to earn in 2014.
WEDNESDAY, 10:06pm: The Chiefs tweeted a picture of Charles signing the contract, signifying that the deal is now official.
3:52pm: The Chiefs have agreed to a deal with star running back Jamaal Charles, reports NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter). ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets that Charles will sign a two-year extension that will only trail Adrian Peterson is terms of value. Fox Sports’ Mike Garafolo reports (via Twitter) that Charles will get $18MM in “new” money, and Rapoport adds on Twitter that they player will get an extra $5MM over the next two seasons.
We heard yesterday that the two sides were discussing a deal, but this morning’s reports indicated that a deal wouldn’t be reached today. Charles originally signed a six-year, $27.97MM in 2010, but his 2014 salary made him vastly underpaid. As PFR’s Zach Links pointed out yesterday, the running back was set to earn $3.9MM in 2014 and $6MM in 2015. The $3.9MM would have ranked him behind players like Donald Brown and Toby Gerhart.
The 27-year-old arguably had his best season in 2013, finishing with 1,287 yards and 12 touchdowns. Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required) ranked Charles as the second-best running back last season. The running back has mostly stayed healthy throughout his career; except for the 2011 season, Charles has appeared in at least 15 games since his rookie year.