What to Expect Out of Chargers RBs in 2025?

The Chargers are favored in a whopping 13 (!) games for this upcoming season, which obviously favors the run game – and we should expect the volume to be there for both RBs Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris. Now, LA was middle of the pack when it came to running the ball in neutral game scripts, and that deviated from head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s history as coaches, but when you look at what they had in the backfield, they just didn’t have a backfield they could rely on. They had JK Dobbins for 13 games (and even then, he was a little banged up here and there) and Gus Edwards, who had 100 carries himself.

So why not put the ball in Justin Herbert’s hands more? They did, and it made sense - but this year, it seems like they want to go back to their roots. The Chargers signed Najee Harris in free agency to a 1-year deal and they invested heavily in Omarion Hampton in the first round at 22nd overall - they’re now officially built to run the ball, and I do think we see the philosophy reverted a bit.

When we talk about the backfield split, I look at JK Dobbins’ rookie year under John Harbaugh and the same offensive coordinator Greg Roman back in 2019. Dobbins was drafted in the 2nd round (still significant draft capital), he was extremely explosive and averaged 6 yards per carry that year; yet he finished the year with only 134 carries. He didn’t have one game over 15 carries as a rookie. He scored 7 TDs in the final 6 games of the regular season, yet he still didn’t get more than 10 carries in either of their two playoff games that year. He was competing with Gus Edwards that year, as well, and he finished with more carries than him. It was basically a 50/50 split.

I’m a little worried that we’re going to see something similar to that out of this backfield. Greg Roman just said he’s blown away by Najee Harris’ knowledge of the game and movement skills. For dynasty, I’m not overly concerned - I hope they don’t end up re-signing Najee like Roman kept Gus Edwards around, but I think we’re going to see a split here where the current price tag of the RB15 overall for Omarion Hampton is a little high. Joe Mixon, Chuba Hubbard, Kenneth Walker, and Alvin Kamara are all going behind Hampton, and all could get significantly more volume than Hampton this season.

I hate fading talented players; he’s definitely going to have his games without getting a ton of volume, but I think I’m fading at that price. Najee’s an unsexy pick, and I’ve never been a huge Najee guy, but at RB36, he’s a very usable RB around that price among guys like Travis Etienne, Zach Charbonnet, and Javonte Williams… Etienne has more upside, Charbonnet is a handcuff, and Javonte is… Javonte. Not a whole lot of upside for Najee without a Hampton injury, but there’s a world where we’re still looking at 10-15 carries plus a couple of catches per game for him alongside Hampton.