After beginning the season with a spectacular win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers have looked even better going against the new-look Las Vegas Raiders. Going up 17-6 at halftime, Jim Harbaugh and his men have done a successful job of stifling the Raiders offense, while moving the downfield with relative ease.
However, even with a strong performance from the unit as a whole, Los Angeles had a virtual no-show in the ground game. In particular, their first-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft, Omarion Hampton, had a very lacklustre performance in the first half at Allegiant Stadium.
What Happened to Omarion Hampton?
Scoring two touchdowns with relative ease, the Chargers continued to focus on the passing game in an eye-opening continuation of last week’s trend. However, that focus came at the cost of a reduced rushing attack.
Through the first two quarters, the team had just seven total carries out of the backfield that did not involve Justin Herbert as the man making the scramble. Hampton, who came in with a ton of fanfare as the 22nd overall pick, accounted for four of those carries.
Omarion Hampton stiff arms 57 who knocks down his own coach.
Omarion Hampton never goes down ⚡️🦍 pic.twitter.com/9Wd8D0vexZ
— Chargers Country (@ChargersCountry) September 16, 2025
Totaling just 22 yards, he was ineffective as a pass catcher as well, not hauling a single pass or accounting for yardage. For someone who got the RB1 nod in Week 1, it was a shocking drop for a potential franchise cornerstone.
Things went from bad to worse for the North Carolina product in the third quarter. As the Chargers added three more points to the tally, Hampton caught his first pass, albeit for just a single yard.
However, his real loss came in the ground game, where he got four more carries but only added two more yards to his total. After consecutive seasons of 1,500 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns for the Tar Heels, he seemed like a surefire prospect for the NFL game.
But after rushing for 48 yards on 15 carries, his numbers have taken a significant hit. As the night wore on, things didn’t get much better for Hampton. Ultimately, he finished with a pedestrian stat line of 24 rushing yards on eight carries, including a 15-yard run.
Simultaneously, he also had one additional yard through the air as he caught one of his two targets.
