Najee Harris ($7,000 for Showdown) inked a one-year deal worth up to $9.25 million with the Chargers this offseason, but things took an odd turn when the back suffered an eye injury in a firework incident on the Fourth of July. Harris missed most of training camp due to this strange injury and he was just cleared for full contact practice this past Monday. Harris is expected to play in Friday’s season opener vs. the Chiefs, but given he has missed almost all of training camp, it’s hard to imagine the veteran seeing much work.
Rookie Omarion Hampton ($8,000) sits atop the Chargers’ depth chart and will operate as the team’s No. 1 back Friday, with Harris likely seeing limited snaps behind Hampton. Harris seeing less than 10 touches is very possible and in addition to the concerns about his role and health, this is a poor matchup. Last season, Kansas City gave up the fourth-fewest yards per rush in the NFL (4.1).
While Harris finished with 10.1 FPTS when he faced the Chiefs last season, this came as a member of the Steelers, where Harris was the No. 1 back. In that contest, Harris saw 15 touches and logged 45% of the snaps.
The 27-year-old likely won’t see half of this workload Friday and while Harris has the potential to be a solid fantasy asset this season – he averaged a solid 0.38 FPTS per snap with Pittsburgh last season – he should have a very quiet Chargers debut and isn’t worth starting in any format.
