Kansas City Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Hampton has been announced the starter by the Chargers for Friday night’s game in Brazil against the Chiefs. Najee Harris will work into the backfield mix as well, but the extent of his role early in the season is still to be seen after suffering an eye injury in a fireworks incident on July 4. It’s been all rave reviews on the rookie out of UNC, who rushed for over 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns in each of his final two seasons in college.
I’m anticipating we see a bulk of the work go to Hampton in his NFL debut, against a Chiefs defense that can be had on the ground. While Kansas City ranked 10th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed last season, it ended the year by giving up an average of 143.7 yards on the ground over the final three games. The Chargers were incredibly thin in the backfield last season, and have seemingly fixed that problem for a head coach that wants to put emphasis on running the ball.
With Hampton still an unknown at the NFL level, I think this number is set too low and we’ll see it rise week by week early in the season. I’ll take advantage of a modest number here early on and back the rookie to exceed his rushing prop in Week 1.
NFL Pick: Omarion Hampton OVER 47.5 Rushing Yards (-112) 1-unit
For my full NFL Week 1 card, check out my best bets article on DK Network.
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