With Jamaal Charles now officially retired, we can finally start the debate about whether or not the former Chiefs running back belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
If there's one career number that says Charles should be in the Hall, it's his yards per carry. During his 11 seasons in the NFL, Charles averaged an incredible 5.4 yards per carry, which is the second most of any running back in NFL history and ranks fourth overall.
Charles isn't sure if that ranking will be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, but he does sound optimistic about his chances.
"I mean, some of my numbers look way better than some people already in Canton," Charles said recently via TMZ. "That tells you what type of player I was. I gave it my all. Every time I touched the ball, I averaged six yards a carry basically."
At 5.4 yards per carry, Charles finished his career with higher rushing average than Hall of Famers like Jim Brown and Barry Sanders.
"I mean, that makes me feel good, that I was able to accomplish something in the NFL and leave a legacy that hopefully can stand [the test of time] like Jim Brown and Barry Sanders," Charles said. "That tells you what type of player I was, I gave it my all every time I touched the ball. I averaged six yards per carry basically.
Charles also topped the 1,000 yard mark a total of five times during a career where he rushed for a total of 7,563 yards, which currently ranks 56th all-time. Although that number puts him above multiple Hall of Famers on the NFL's all-time rushing list -- he has more than guys like Gale Sayers (4,956), Marion Motley (4,720) and Leroy Kelly (7,274) -- the number doesn't stack up so well against modern running backs, who Charles will be compared with during the Hall of Fame voting process.
Frank Gore, Adrian Peterson and LeSean McCoy are all ahead of him on the all-time rushing list. Not to mention, Marshawn Lynch is also ahead of him and there's a good chance that Beast Mode will become eligible for the Hall of Fame the same year that Charles becomes eligible.
There's also the fact that Charles never led the NFL in rushing and never won a Super Bowl. If anything ends up hurting Charles' chances of getting enshrined, he thinks it's going to be his lack of success in the postseason.
"I think what's gonna definitely haunt me is not winning a Super Bowl," Charles said. "But I mean, I hope that people can see what type of person I was from just playing football, on the field and off the field."
In his 11 years, Charles played in just two playoff games and never made it past the wild-card round.
Of course, no matter what happens with Canton, Charles will always be a Hall of Famer in Kansas City.
After signing a one-day contract to retire with the Chiefs this week, Charles took one more handoff before calling it quits for good.