Najee Harris Reportedly Has a Chance to Play in Week 1 vs Chiefs

The rubber is about to meet the road for the former Steelers RB who suffered what the team is calling a ‘superficial eye injury’ over the weekend of this past July 4th. Harris himself was cleared for contact over the weekend and is, in his own words, ‘ramping up to’ playing in the Chargers inaugural tilt against the division rival Chiefs in Brazil on Friday. A full practice on Tuesday according to the Chargers first practice report of the week has Najee trending in the right direction to play, albeit much to the dismay of Omarion Hampton managers. If Najee ultimately suits up, he shouldn’t be expected to handle a true 1B workload behind Hampton right away after missing the majority of training camp and the entirety of the preseason. As a result, Hampton managers shouldn’t be deterred from starting the first-round rookie out of UNC in Week 1, as he’ll presumably handle the lion’s share of the work – after all, he was available and practicing the entire time that Najee was sidelined this summer. There’s a chance that as Najee gets healthier and ramps up over the next few weeks, the workload could begin to look more like the split we expected to see at the beginning of minicamp earlier this year. However, it’s likely that the beginning of the season will be Omarion Hampton’s time to shine – and if he plays well, he could wind up ceding less and less work to Najee.