Tonight, September 5, the Los Angeles Chargers will open their 2025 season against the Kansas City Chiefs, their AFC West division rivals. The matchup will be the second-ever regular-season NFL game to take place in São Paulo, Brazil, after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers there last year.
Despite the game’s hype, there have been question marks around the Chargers’ running back rotation since veteran signing Najee Harris suffered an eye injury during a July 4 freak fireworks accident. So as the game nears, who will lead the team in carries?
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Harris signed with the Chargers in free agency after leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of his rookie contract. Despite starting all 68 regular-season games during his time in the AFC North, Harris was only offered a one-year, $5.25 million deal in Los Angeles.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is known to have been an admirer of Harris since the player was in high school. The coach attempted to recruit the running back for his Michigan team before Harris eventually joined Alabama.
Harbaugh finally has his man, but that didn’t stop the team from taking North Carolina standout Omarion Hampton in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Due to his experience in the league, Harris was expected to start the season as the lead back, but his eye injury has meant he has missed significant time during the offseason. Heading into the game against Kansas City, Harbaugh has revealed that Hampton will start, but has given no further details about the possible snap share.
Rich Eisen says that Jim Harbaugh told him in a pre-broadcast meeting that Chargers RB Omarion Hampton will be the starting running back over Najee Harris on Friday.
Via “The Rich Eisen Show” pic.twitter.com/xrLav4JxiT
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) September 4, 2025
Harris is expected to play some part in the game, which looked unlikely at times during the preseason. However, given his lack of preseason workouts, he is unlikely to play more than a supporting role.
Can Harris Win the Starting Job Back From Omarion Hampton?
Hampton is an explosive power runner with enough talent to keep Harris on the sidelines for the majority of snaps this season. The rookie tallied 3,164 rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns over his final two years in college and displayed plenty of ability as a receiver.
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Harris will be involved, regardless of how well Hampton performs in Year 1, but Harris’s advantage was that he would get the first opportunity, which he now won’t. There was an expectation that Hampton would eat into Harris’s workload before eventually winning the starting job, but Harris will likely be a backup for the entire year.
Predicting the success of rookies can be difficult — plenty of encouraging prospects have seen their careers fizzle out before they even got going. Hampton, though, has so many ways to win in the NFL, and has landed on a run-heavy offense that should feed him endless opportunities to produce.
Ashton Jeanty is 2025’s most highly anticipated rookie running back, but Hampton should also be considered a leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, Harris faces an uphill battle to earn significant opportunities in an offense he was expected to be a big part of.
Regardless, the Chargers’ duo will finally have a chance to prove their power Friday night in São Paolo, Brazil. The game kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET on YouTube.
