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Kansas City Chiefs Do Not Need Knile Davis For 2016 Season

By Leigh Oleszczak

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This time last year, Kansas City Chiefs fans would have probably flipped out at the thought of trading away or parting ways with Knile Davis before the regular season began. Now, however, it seems like the obvious thing to do.

The KC Chiefs have one of the most stacked backfields in all of the NFL this season. Jamaal Charles is returning to action after suffering a torn ACL last year, which is the most important thing for the Chiefs.

Charles has been the MVP of the Chiefs for nearly every season that he’s been healthy.

While Knile Davis stepped in Charles’ absence during the 2013 and 2014 season, he wasn’t able to prove himself enough during the 2015 season when Charles went out for the year after week five. He was eventually demoted below Spencer Ware, who shared the snaps with Charcandrick West.

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West and Ware formed a formidable duo, combining for over 1,000 yards rushing and ten touchdowns. The two stepped up when given the chance and they were both rewarded with extensions this past offseason for their efforts.

With all of that said, it’s time to part ways with Knile Davis.

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Davis looked promising during his first two years in the league, rushing for around 700 yards in his first two years combined and totaling ten touchdowns. He really stepped up big for this team when Jamaal went down in the 2013 playoff game and again during a regular season game in 2014.

Davis’ issue has always been ball control. He’s had seven fumbles during his three-year career, and that doesn’t even count the one he had in the 2015 AFC Divisional Round in the playoffs that pretty much sealed Kansas City’s fate in the game.

While Davis has gone on the record saying he didn’t ask to be traded, it just doesn’t make much sense for the Chiefs to keep him in 2016, especially if they can get some type of draft picks or maybe another useful player for him.

Now look, I like Knile Davis, and I want him to succeed in the NFL, but why would the Chiefs give West and Ware extensions and then keep Davis around? It doesn’t make any sense. John Dorsey obviously knew Knile Davis’ days in Kansas City were numbered and those extensions pretty much closed any further discussions on the matter.

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Adam Teicher of ESPN did a nice story on Davis not too long ago, and Davis had felt like the playoff game was going well until that fumble (well, duh). I feel like Teicher sums it up best with this paragraph,

"For Davis, the fumble continued a pattern of unreliability as a running back. Whether a fumble, a dropped pass, an unproductive run or a missed assignment in pass protection, Davis has had a series of missteps for the Chiefs, the result being he hasn’t developed into the player the Chiefs thought he would be when they drafted him in the third round in 2013."

All of this is so true. Davis had the luxury of sitting behind Charles for several seasons and this season proved to potentially be his last shot as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Do you think the Chiefs will keep Knile Davis around in 2016 or not?

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