Chiefs sign running back Bishop Sankey off Patriots’ practice squad

The Chiefs, suddenly thin at running back, added another player to the position on Tuesday, as they signed Bishop Sankey off the New England Patriots’ practice squad, according to a Twitter message from Sankey’s agent, Jason Bernstein.

The move comes after Jamaal Charles and Spencer Ware, two of the Chiefs’ top backs, have been injured. Ware suffered a concussion in the second quarter of the Chiefs’ 30-14 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, while Charles missed the game because of lingering issues in his surgically repaired right knee and visited orthopedic surgeon James Andrews on Monday.

With both players’ status in doubt for Sunday’s home game against Jacksonville, the Chiefs still have Charcandrick West — who led the team in rushing last year with 634 yards before settling into a No. 2 role behind Ware this season — but made the move to add Sankey.

Sankey, 24, was a second-round pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2014, but the 5-foot-10, 204-pounder was released after two seasons in which he rushed 199 times for 762 yards — 3.8 yards per carry — and three touchdowns.

Sankey also caught 32 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown during his stint with the Titans, and returned 16 kicks for 390 yards.

Sankey fits the profile of a player the Chiefs would at least take a flier on. At the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine, the early entrant Sankey was among the top testers at his position with 26 bench press reps, a 126-inch broad jump, a 6.75-second three-cone drill and 4.0-second 20-yard shuttle. He was described as an “instinctive, competitive and shifty, low-to-the-ground hard runner” in his NFL.com draft profile.

Adding Sankey to the active roster would require a yet-to-be-announced corresponding roster move.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Chiefs sign running back Bishop Sankey off Patriots’ practice squad."