Chiefs’ Charcandrick West thrives under Jamaal Charles’ tutelage

Shortly after the Chiefs’ 45-10 win over the Detroit Lions on Nov. 1 in London, Charcandrick West glanced at his cellphone and saw an uplifting message.

It was from Jamaal Charles, his friend and mentor.

“He just told me, ‘You’re starting to look like a top back in this league,’ he’s very proud of me,” West said. “So coming from him, that’s a great feeling.”

No doubt. In his third start of the season, West had just rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries against the Lions, following up a 22-carry, 110-yard and one-touchdown effort against the Pittsburgh Steelers the week before.

In other words, West, 24, is a major reason the Chiefs, 3-5, have been able to resuscitate their season following a 1-5 start. Charles’ season-ending ACL tear against the Chicago Bears in week five seemed like a death knell at the time, but the Chiefs have been pleased with West’s play.

“You kind of hoped that he’d be able to do what he’s doing,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “And you’re right, you don’t know until they do it.”

Reid, however, saw enough in West to make him the No. 1 tailback in Charles’ absence instead of Knile Davis, a 2013 third-round draft pick who had served as Charles’ top backup the previous two seasons.

“Smart kid, determined,” Reid said of West. “Physically, he’s got good balance, speed, he has great feet. Wants to be good, he comes to work the same guy every day. You’re not going to get this fluctuation of personality with him.

“He’s going to come to work, have a smile on his face, and he’s going to play good, hard-nosed football when he’s out there.”

But West, who was signed as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Abilene Christian shortly after the 2014 NFL Draft, has had help along the way from a star teammate.

“Jamaal took him under his wing ... he let him live with him and so on,” Reid said. “It’s been kind of a neat thing, I think, for Charcandrick.”

West, who said he stayed with Charles during organized team activities last year, noted that Charles — and the offensive line, of course — are the primary reasons he’s played well the last two weeks.

He credited Charles for teaching him the ropes, particularly when it came to reading coverages and becoming a patient runner.

“It was just kind of a thing where I messed up something one day and he just (said), ‘Come here and let me talk to you,’ ” West said. “Pulled me to the side and just guided me in the right direction.”

Since then, the two have spent enough time together off the field that at a recent news conference, Reid even hinted about there being a “pizza story” involving the two that West later elaborated on.

“We were sitting there playing a video game one day, and we were both hungry,” West said. “He was like ‘Man, what do you want to eat?’ We both came up with pizza, so we called in.

“And both of us talk (with) a little bit of slang, so we ordered the pizza and we ordered a meat lover’s. And somehow he got meatloaf out of that and told the people we wanted a meatloaf pizza. And I’m looking like, I wondered if they were going to catch it.”

They did, it turns out; West said the pizza that arrived was a meat lover’s.

“We call a meat lover’s (pizza) a meatloaf (pizza) now,” West said with a laugh.

West has already dedicated his season to a longtime family friend who recently passed away, but he’s also resolved himself to keep playing hard for Charles, as well.

“He still has eight games to keep pushing forward, and how do you handle that” is the question, Reid said of West. “Every week is a new step for him to build on, but you think that he’s going to be OK — that’s just the feeling that he gives you by his work ethic, by the way he’s wired, personality-wise.”

Provided he does, West hopes to be able to do the same things for another young back that Charles has done for him.

“Just being around a great person like that,” West said, “makes you want to be great.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Chiefs’ Charcandrick West thrives under Jamaal Charles’ tutelage."