The Chargers may finally be ready to stop shuffling their backfield and let Omarion Hampton take the lead.
After seven weeks of rotating Hampton, Keaton Mitchell and Kimani Vidal in and out of the offense, offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said Thursday the staff has given “strong consideration and conversation” to changing the setup for Week 9 against the Texans. He made it pretty clear who he was talking about, saying he was “excited about someone dictating the rotation,” while also praising Hampton’s preparation and saying the second-year back is hungry for the ball.
That lines up with what Jim Harbaugh said Monday, when the head coach noted the staff was considering whether to put most of the workload on one runner and that they would try it.
The current approach has not produced much rhythm. The idea of riding the “hot hand” sounded fine in training camp, but in practice it has left all three backs without much traction.
Hampton still leads the group with 89 carries, 308 yards, three touchdowns and 201 offensive snaps, but he has not reached 15 rushing attempts in a game since Week 3. His biggest outing remains the 23-carry performance against the Raiders in Week 2.
The numbers around the unit have been rough, too. Per Pro Football Focus, Chargers running backs have averaged just 2.9 yards per attempt since Week 5.
Last Sunday’s loss to the Rams was the low point: just 64 yards on 25 rushes. Hampton finished with 20 yards on nine carries, Vidal had 23 yards on eight attempts and Mitchell managed six yards on four tries.
That kind of split workload has kept the group from building any momentum, and it has also left Justin Herbert with little support from the run game.
Hampton, at 6 feet and 220 pounds, gives the Chargers the kind of downhill runner who can wear on a defense as the game goes on. A more consistent dose of him could help create the second-and-short situations that make play-action and motion more dangerous, and that would give the offense a better chance to look the way the Chargers envisioned when they hired McDaniel in January.
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