Running back Jamaal Charles didn’t want to say much about the Chiefs during his introductory press conference with the Broncos. Charles has thereafter opted to say plenty.
Appearing on the podcast known as Unmatched Sports with Cal Jones, Charles said he would have taken a reduction on his $3.75 million salary to stay in Kansas City, but that he wasn’t given the chance.
“I thought maybe they would give me a grace period,” Charles said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post. “But I haven’t performed the last two years. At the same time, I know it was about business. I think it would have been cool if they came and told me about a pay cut because I think I would’ve taken that pay cut, because I think I owed it to them for allowing me to be on the team. But I felt like when I got that call, it was just like, man, it was just OK, man. If it can happen to Peyton Manning it can happen to anybody.”
Charles ultimately took a one-year deal with a base value of $900,000, a $100,000 workout bonus, and up to $3.75 million (the salary he would have earned in Kansas City) in per-game roster bonuses and incentives. Charles says he’s not upset that a similar offer (or any offer for that matter) didn’t come from the Chiefs.
“I felt like it was more personal to the Chiefs than it was to me,” Charles said. “Them letting me go, I love this community. I did a lot. I sweat, bleed, two ACLs, meniscus, I left that all out here in Kansas City. My heart will always be in Kansas City. It’s nothing personal.”
Charles will now get a chance to do those things for Denver. If he can do it like he did it in Kansas City, the Chiefs may end up regretting not making him an offer.