There are times when a rookie running back’s season can be measured not by the touches he gets, but by the ones he stops getting. That is the tension around Omarion Hampton right now, because the Los Angeles Chargers selected him with the No. 22 pick in the 2025 NFL draft expecting a player who could handle a three- or four-down role, yet his usage has moved the other way since Week 2.
Hampton played 40 snaps against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2 and posted a career-high 23 carries, but he also lost the football for the second time this season. Since then, his workload has drifted down week by week: 27 snaps against the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, 22 against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4 and a season-low 20 offensive snaps against the Denver Broncos in Week 5. In a running back room where the Chargers are clearly leaning on rotation, that is a meaningful shift, not a small sample quirk.
Why the rotation matters
The simplest explanation is that the Chargers are treating the position as a shared job rather than a lead-back assignment. Jim Harbaugh said it is hard to predict exactly how many snaps any player will get, but that he is fired up every time Hampton is in the game. He also praised Kimani Vidal and Keaton Mitchell, saying all three backs are playing really good football and that the rotation was what the team thought was best.
That kind of language matters because it suggests Hampton’s snap count is not being reduced because he has disappeared from the plan. Instead, the Chargers appear to be balancing three backs they trust, which makes sense when the staff believes each one is playing well. Hampton still finished his rookie campaign with 545 yards and four touchdowns, so the talent is clearly there. The issue is not whether he can help. It is whether he can reclaim a larger share of the offense.
Mike McDaniel’s comments point in the same direction. He said he is assessing each week what his players are good at, trying to find the right balance and give guys opportunities, and that the process is very fluid rather than an attack on any one individual. He added that it is his job to do better, score more points and utilize all the assets available because there is only one ball. That is a reasonable framework for a backfield, but it also helps explain why Hampton’s role has not stayed fixed.
The concern for the Chargers is that Hampton was drafted as a player who could fit a larger workload, especially in a system expected to make use of a wide-zone-heavy run game. Early in the season, injuries complicated that picture, including a fractured left ankle and later a right ankle injury. Even so, the Week 5 usage drop suggests the team may be moving toward a more flexible, committee-based approach than the pre-draft projection implied.
That does not mean Hampton is suddenly a marginal player. It does mean the Chargers are no longer treating him like an automatic bell cow, and that is the real story for anyone following the Charger Schedule and trying to understand how the offense is evolving. The rookie still has time to change the conversation, but for now the numbers say the same thing week after week: the workload is shrinking, and the rotation is what the staff prefers.
