Tuesday's NFL: Jamaal Charles to retire after signing with Chiefs
The Chiefs will sign career rushing leader Jamaal Charles to a one-day contract this week so he can retire with his original team, The Star confirmed.
Sports Radio 610 first reported the story on Tuesday.
The decision signals Charles’ retirement from the NFL, which had remained uncertain after last season, when he appeared in two games for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Charles, 32, was a third-round selection by the Chiefs in 2008 and became the team’s primary back in the second half of that season. He went on to rush for the first of his 1,000-yard seasons with the team that year.
The first of his four Pro Bowl seasons came in 2010, when he rushed for 1,467 yards.
The arrival of head coach Andy Reid in 2013 expanded Charles’ game. He caught 70 passes that season, and his 12 rushing and 19 total touchdowns led the NFL.
Over nine seasons in a Chiefs uniform, Charles rushed for 7,260 yards. He was released by the Chiefs in February, 2017 and spent the next season with the Denver Broncos.
Charles, an All-America sprinter at Texas, turned his breakaway speed into highlight-reel touchdown runs. He had five touchdown runs of 76 yards or longer and nine touchdown plays of 56 yards or longer.
His best game? Either the 259-yard rushing game he enjoyed against the Broncos to end the 2009 season or the five-touchdown game at Oakland in 2013, when he logged 195 receiving yards and four scores through the air.
Ex-Spartan picked up
The Titans claimed linebacker Riley Bullough off waivers.
Bullough collected 13 tackles for the Buccaneers last season while appearing in nine games and making three starts. The Bucs waived him Monday.
The Bucs had added Bullough as an undrafted free agent from Michigan State in 2017. He spent most of the 2017 season on Tampa Bay’s practice squad before joining the Bucs’ active roster for their final three games.
Bullough had 214 tackles and 7.5 sacks in 50 career games with Michigan State.
Extra points
Gino Marchetti, a Hall of Fame defensive end who helped the Baltimore Colts win consecutive NFL championships in the late 1950s, has died.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame said Marchetti was 93. He passed away at Paoli Hospital in Paoli, Pa., hospital spokeswoman Mary Kate Coghlan said.
Marchetti was named to the Pro Bowl during 11 of his 14 NFL seasons. Though undersized for the position by today’s standards — 6-foot-4, 244-pounds — Marchetti effectively tracked down quarterbacks and stuffed the run.
...The Colts signed veteran running back Spencer Ware.
He’s the third veteran free agent Indy has signed this offseason. At 5-foot-10, 229 pounds, Ware gives the Colts’ backfield a bigger back than the others currently on the roster.
...Washington signed offensive tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty (Michigan).
Associated Press contributed