The NFL season is quickly approaching, and fantasy drafts are in full swing. At DraftKings, you can play an array of different season-long fantasy contests.
Below, I take a look at the fantasy value of all the players in the Los Angeles Chargers’ backfield.
Los Angeles Chargers Backfield
The Chargers made the postseason in their first season under Jim Harbaugh, but lost to the Texans in the Wild Card round. Despite having some promising teams, the Chargers have yet to win a playoff game with Justin Herbert at quarterback. They are desperate to break through, and last season showed signs that they aren’t far off. They had one of the best defenses in the NFL, ranking 5th in defensive EPA/play. The Chargers were an above-average passing offense, ranking 12th in EPA/dropback. However, they struggled to run the football, ranking 18th in EPA/rush and 27th in rushing success rate. The Chargers identified this issue and completely turned over their backfield this offseason.
Jim Harbaugh coached teams love to run the football. His Michigan Wolverines won a National Championship game where J.J. McCarthy only completed ten passes. He has no problem relying on his defense and his run game, but that means the run game needs to be elite. Last season, it was a combination of JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards taking a large majority of the carries for Los Angeles. The Chargers let both walk this offseason and signed Najee Harris in free agency and drafted Omarion Hampton from UNC with their first-round pick. Harris is listed as RB1 on the depth chart and is the experienced back, but Omarion Hampton could easily be the leader in this backfield by the end of the season.
Najee Harris was a consistent running back for the Steelers, but never hit the heights that Pittsburgh hoped he would. He rushed for 1,000 yards all four seasons in Pittsburgh and never missed a single game, an incredible feat in its own right. That availability is exactly what Jim Harbaugh wanted to pair with a young player like Hampton. In terms of rushing yards, Harris has been a top-five running back in the NFL since coming into the league in 2021. However, the four backs ahead of him all have averaged at least 75 yards per game and 4.3 yards per carry. Harris has averaged 63 yards per game and 3.9 yards per carry. So, his availability has been by far his best asset. He lacks explosiveness and is not going to put up huge 150+ yard rushing games very often.
Running Back Handcuffs: Omarion Hampton
For the first time in his NFL career, Harris might miss a game. He suffered an eye injury on the Fourth of July in a fireworks accident. That injury kept him out of training camp, and he didn’t start participating in drills until August 12th. While he is back on the field, his timetable is still uncertain. There doesn’t seem to be any worries over long-term effects, so it shouldn’t affect Harris once he is 100% recovered, but it is still unclear if he will be ready for Week 1. If that’s the case, it would give Omarion Hampton an immediate chance to shine. Even if Harris does play, Hampton should see a lot of action due to the amount of work he has done with the starters throughout training camp.
Hampton was a superstar at UNC, ranking second behind only Ashton Jeanty in rushing yards over the last two seasons in college football. In most seasons, rushing for over 3,000 yards over two seasons would have made him the rushing leader over that period, but Jeanty is a special case. Hampton also improved as a receiver last season, catching 38 balls for 373 yards. Najee Harris isn’t much of a threat as a receiver, and it was usually Jaylen Warren playing that role for the Steelers. At the very least, Hampton should start the season taking most of the reps as the third-down running back and in obvious passing situations. However, due to Harris’ lack of a presence at training camp, Hampton could get an even bigger role from the jump. He needs to be handcuffed to Najee Harris in any fantasy draft, as he could be the main man in this backfield for stretches of this season.
