What's Omarion Hampton's Fantasy Football Outlook as the Chargers' Lead Back?

Following the signing of Najee Harris in free agency and the selection of rookie Omarion Hampton in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, many expected the Los Angeles Chargers to have both backs heavily involved in the offense. However, an eye injury for Harris has led to Hampton receiving most of the meaningful snaps and reps with the starting offense throughout training camp, paving the way for the first-year running back to be the featured option in LA's backfield.

Let's discuss the details we know about Harris' eye injury and talk about what we should expect to see from Hampton in fantasy football for the 2025 NFL season.

Note: All ADPs (average draft position) comes from FantasyPros' Consensus ADP for half-PPR leagues.

Najee Harris' Eye Injury

Back in early July, Harris' agent revealed that the veteran rusher suffered an eye injury due to a fireworks mishap at an event on July 4. According to reports, there were multiple attendees injured at the July 4 event that Harris was present for.

When the news originally surfaced, there didn't seem to be too much concern about Harris' ability to be ready for training camp or Week 1 of the regular season. But since then, Harris was placed on the NFI (non-football injury) list to begin training camp, and he's yet to fully practice with the team.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh has recently allowed Harris to begin walking laps around the practice field (notably with a visor on his helmet), and he did share that Harris can see out of his eye now. At the same time, Harbaugh was non-committal when it came to saying whether or not Harris would be ready to suit up for the Chargers in Week 1.

With just a few weeks to go until Los Angeles kicks off their 2025 campaign versus the Kansas City Chiefs on September 5 in Brazil, time is ticking for Harris to get enough reps to prepare him for the start of the season. Currently, Harris is carrying an ADP of 111.7 (RB38) in half-PPR formats.

Omarion Hampton NFL Fantasy Outlook

Before diving into Hampton's fantasy football outlook in his debut season with the Chargers, let's first highlight his college production. Hampton spent three seasons at North Carolina, totaling 1,726-plus scrimmage yards and 16-plus total touchdowns in each of his final two years with the Tar Heels.

In his final collegiate season, Hampton earned the 12th-most yards after contact per attempt (4.35), 6th-most missed tackles forced (73), and 4th-most runs of 10-plus yards (45) among college backs with 100-plus attempts in 2024, per PFF. Hampton also proved himself to be a capable pass catcher out of the backfield a season ago, hauling in 38 passes for 373 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Upon joining the Chargers, Hampton gets to play alongside Justin Herbert on a team that averaged the 11th-most points per game (23.6) last season. While a season-ending injury to All-Pro left tackle Rashawn Slater isn't ideal, Hampton can still be ultra-effective in fantasy due to getting enough volume on the ground and through the air in an offense that lacks top-tier weapons outside of Ladd McConkey.

Once again, amid the absence of Harris, Hampton has benefited the most by getting plenty of snaps with the starters throughout training camp, which has led to his ADP climbing to 39.0 overall (RB15).

If first-round NFL draft capital in a Greg Roman offense wasn't enough for people to be clamoring for Hampton in fantasy football, the injury to Harris should make the rookie back a worthwhile target in drafts this season.

Futures Day is coming August 26th. Learn more here.

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