Fantasy reaction: Jamaal Charles signs with the Denver Broncos

It seems free agent running back Jamaal Charles has found a home with the Denver Broncos, per Ian Rapoport.

Charles was the last of the “old”, big name running backs out on the free agent market, after Adrian Peterson signed with the Saints and Marshawn Lynch came out of retirement to join the Raiders.

On paper, the move makes sense. Charles joins a Broncos team that struggled to run the football last year, finishing with the 6th fewest total rushing yards in the league. While it’s always nice to get more running backs to try and help improve your run game, the Broncos also have an awful offensive line so don’t think Charles will magically turn this rushing attack around.

And for that matter, don’t think that Charles will magically become his old self on a new team.

It’s been three years since Charles had fantasy relevance and four years since he was a top 5 back. His last two seasons have been marred by injury and he doesn’t seem to have the ability to make it through a full season anymore. He’s only played eight games in the last two years. Not exactly what you want on a fantasy team, or a real team for that matter.

Charles does have skill and was once a fantasy must-have—he was the best fantasy running back in 2013 scoring over 300 total points—but that ship has sadly sailed in my eyes. After having just finished my RB rankings, I really don’t think I can safely say Charles is anything more than a flier right now. He’s not a top 45 back in my book and he’s not worth spending a decently high pick on. If he can stay healthy and takes more of the workload in Denver, then I’m happy to reconsider, but for now, he’s not worth that much in fantasy.