Veteran running back Jamaal Charles will visit the New Orleans Saints on Wednesday
Hayden Hurst Ravens Jersey , per ESPN's Adam Schefter.Charles, 31, spent the 2017 season with the Denver Broncos after nine years with the Kansas City
Chiefs. He rushed for 296 yards on 69 carries.The Saints could be in the market
for a short-term solution at running back with Mark Ingram suspended for the
first four games of the season after he?violated?the NFL's performance-enhancing
drug policy. Ingram and Alvin Kamara became the league's best one-two backfield
punch in 2017, each earning Pro Bowl berths while giving New Orleans perhaps the
sport's most versatile offense.Charles is far from the player he was during his
peak in Kansas City. Injuries riddled the end of his tenure with the Chiefs,
limiting him to eight games combined in 2015 and 2016. He was on the field for
14 with Denver but in a role that was far lesser than either side expected.The
Saints have six running backs on their roster. Daniel Lasco or Boston Scott
could wind up taking Ingram's carries if they perform well in camp, and Jonathan
Williams is a talented 2016 fifth-round pick. But it's clear New Orleans is at
least interested in seeing what Charles can do if they're bringing him in for a
workout. Alex Smith is one of the 100 best players in the NFL. Probably.Let's
not gush with so much praise that we embarrass the guy or anything, but he
absolutely deserves to at least crack the bottom of such a list. Maybe.So the
new Redskins quarterback's being left off NFL Network's Top 100 list this
offseason...that's a snub. Perhaps.It's not a travesty or miscarriage of
justice, but it qualifies as a misdemeanor snub. Right?Not to go through and
line-item veto players who were selected, but Smith has accomplished much more
over a longer career than Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
Braden Smith Colts Jersey , who came in 100th, or Browns running back Carlos Hyde, who has never rushed for 1,000 yards, been elected to a Pro Bowl or played
on a winning team but was ranked 97th. Smith should be ahead of these players.
Almost certainly.Heck, Kirk Cousins cracked the Top 100??hich we all know is a
legally binding document with the power to shape legacies, not cable television
airspace filler that evaporates upon impact with actual news??s the NFL's
94th-best player. Cousins spent last year missing the playoffs in Washington,
generating mediocre stats and friend-zoning his organization during contract
negotiations. Meanwhile, Smith was an early-season MVP candidate who was
coasting to a playoff victory with the Chiefs before Andy Reid suffered his
annual mental hard drive crash.The Skins chose Smith over Cousins
Derwin James Jersey , and fans inside the Beltway need to know the reasons weren't purely financial, even if the inclusion of Cousins over Smith makes it
look like a 7-9 team just downgraded at quarterback because it lost a game of
franchise-tag chicken.The Top 100 list, voted on by players, was released this
week. As usual, it was a mix of living legends, guys with oversized reputations
and newcomers coming off breakthrough years. (It's as if the players don't take
the balloting all that seriously and just circle some names on their way out of
the locker room.)Why didn't Smith make the list? Because those are three
categories Smith has never fallen into??nd never will. He may belong on the
list, but it's a list defined by excluding players like him.Which is fitting for
Smith, whose 13-year career has in turn been defined by snubs. Or, as former
49ers and current Skins teammate Vernon Davis calls them
Austin Corbett Jersey , scars.CLIFFORD GRODIN/Associated Press"You can tell by an individual's scars, right?" Davis told Kareem Copeland of the
Washington Post early in June. "Based on their scars, that's how they're able to
be successful. That's why they're successful, based on the scars that they have.
Alex has been through so much. So many ups and downs. So many scars."Not every
successful person is battle-scarred, and not everyone who faces great adversity
manages to overcome it. But while we may question Smith's likelihood of leading
Washington to a Super Bowl or the precise strengths and weaknesses on his
scouting report, no one can question his resilience.Smith got stuck playing for
try-hard, old-school defensive coaches early in his career. Mike Nolan was such
a wannabe throwback that he wore a suit on the sideline, for heaven's sake.
Nolan believed manly NFL quarterbacks should play through serious shoulder
injuries. In 2007 Smith, then an ailing 23-year-old
Calvin Ridley Falcons Jersey , took his case to the press, which is the only sin more mortal than not gutting through debilitating pain for a Mr. Throwback
coach. He lost most of two seasons under Nolan to surgery and controversies.Jed
Jacobsohn/Getty ImagesThen the 49ers promoted Mike Singletary to replace Nolan,
because everyone knows the best way to nurture a fading quarterback prospect is
to get even more old-fashioned and defense-oriented. Singletary benched Smith in
favor of journeyman Shaun Hill at the start of 2009. He threatened to bench
Smith for David Carr in 2010, leading to a sideline dustup. He eventually
benched Alex Smith for Troy Smith. Then Troy Smith got into a sideline dustup
with Singletary, and the 49ers finally figured out their problem wasn't Alex
Smith but an organizational obsession with Landry Lite and Diet Ditka head
coaches.Smith finally enjoyed fleeting success for a few seasons until Jim
Harbaugh decided to replace him with Colin Kaepernick in 2012. We could debate
the long-term wisdom of that decision, but there are already enough issues
dividing us as a nation. With Kaepernick in ascendance, Smith was traded to the
Chiefs, where he became the quarterback who took too many sacks (until he
didn't), couldn't throw deep (until he could) and couldn't win the big game in
the playoffs (in the AFC
Isaiah Oliver Falcons Jersey , where no one but Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger can).That's a lot of scars. Most young quarterbacks would have been tossed into
the bust bin after squabbling with their second straight head coach. Smith
persevered. When you spend your early career getting benched for every rando who
hollers louder than you during practice, getting left off a meaningless Top 100
list is no big whoop.The switch from Cousins to Smith in Washington looks like a
lateral move until you factor in the scars. Whatever happened between Cousins
and the organization??nd the Skins have a storied history of self-inflicted
quarterback drama??ousins began to look like the guy who was at his best when it
mattered least, and someone who was better at maximizing his earning potential
than his football potential.Charlie Riedel/Associated PressCousins was, and
still is, the quarterback who is going to prove what he can do next year. Smith
has been proving himself since 2011. But what he has proved is that he will
never fit the superstar quarterback prototype in an era obsessed with
quarterback superstardom.Smith is above-average. That makes him incredibly
valuable, but his value is hard to express because all the language we use to
describe quarterbacks is loaded. "Average" is a slur. "Elite" is snide
metacommentary. We create Top 10 and Top 100 lists as if those arbitrary
round-number cutoffs count for anything and then take note of the players.
