Los Angeles’ backfield faces a critical transition as their starter returns from injury. Omarion Hampton and Kimani Vidal both head into Monday Night Football seeking productive roles. Which Chargers running back warrants fantasy football trust for Week 14?
Omarion Hampton’s Fantasy Outlook
Hampton hasn’t played since Week 5 due to a fracture in his ankle. Finally healthy after missing seven games, he was activated from injured reserve and will play Monday night.
When we last saw Hampton, he had firmly established himself as a bellcow. He registered back-to-back games of 24-plus fantasy points in the two contests prior to getting hurt. The second-round pick accumulated 450 total yards and three touchdowns on 4.8 yards per carry before suffering the ankle injury against Washington.​
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His role upon return remains somewhat uncertain given Vidal’s strong performance. It would be unrealistic to expect Hampton to return to a feature workload in his first game back.​
As well as Vidal has performed in Hampton’s absence, we know how these things go. Backups are backups for a reason. Vidal has definitely earned himself the RB2 role and will see touches every week, certainly more than he would have had Hampton never gotten hurt. But it’s only a matter of time before Hampton reestablishes himself as the lead back.​
Kinani Vidal’s Fantasy Outlook
Vidal was supposed to split the backfield with Hassan Haskins after Hampton went down. Instead, Vidal’s talent significantly outshined his counterpart. Add in an injury to Haskins and it’s mostly been all Vidal over the past few weeks.​
The former sixth-round pick has accumulated three games with over 100 rushing yards and currently leads the Chargers with 543 yards on the ground, along with three touchdowns. Vidal has been the lead back in all seven games since Week 5 and posted four outings above 17 PPR points.​
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His production has followed a hilarious pattern since Hampton’s Week 5 injury. Vidal has alternated spike weeks with duds. In Weeks 6, 8, 10, and 13, Vidal never scored below 17.8 points. In every other game, he failed to score above 7.5 fantasy points.​
Of course, this is merely happenstance and not exactly anything actionable. But it does feel poised to continue, as this week Vidal will not be the workhorse with Hampton back. Nevertheless, after seeing what Vidal is capable of, the Chargers cannot completely abandon his services with Hampton returning.​
Should You Start Hampton or Vidal This Week?
Philadelphia presents a favorable matchup for Los Angeles’ running backs on Monday Night Football. They just surrendered over 100 yards on the ground to both Bears running backs last Friday. In total, the Bears amassed 281 total rushing yards in the 24-15 victory.
Philadelphia now allows the 14th-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to running backs. They allow the fourth-fewest to quarterbacks and wide receivers, making them quite the run funnel.
Justin Herbert’s compromised left hand should push the Chargers toward a run-heavy approach. The quarterback appeared on the injury report throughout the week but is expected to play. Combine that with Philadelphia’s recent defensive struggles on the ground and Los Angeles should run the ball as much as possible this week.​
Expect Hampton to start on Monday night and for this to be close to an even timeshare. Unfortunately, that means both backs max out as low-end RB2 plays. We will have a better idea of what this backfield looks like going into Week 15. For now, both Hampton and Vidal are startable.​
