When Najee Harris left the Steelers for the Los Angeles Chargers, I’m guessing he didn’t expect another first-round running back. But despite signing him in free agency, that’s exactly the path the Chargers took. With their first-round pick Thursday night, they selected North Carolina RB Omarion Hampton.
“This is not something that was ever split on Mr. Hampton”, Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh said of the running back likely to supplant Najee Harris before he ever plays a snap. I’ll also note that, like Steelers HC Mike Tomlin, he referred to a player he respects as “Mr.”. “He’s there at 22, that’s somebody we’re fired up to get”.
The Chargers drafted Hampton right after the Steelers’ pick at 21, adding to Hampton in their offensive backfield. Los Angeles under in his first season as head coach proved that it wants to establish the run game. And in his second season, he is committed to continuing that. As a bonus, Hampton gets to pair with the back he hoped to play with, as he told Ross McCorkle at the Combine.
The Chargers signed Najee Harris to a one-year, $5.25 million contract with $4 million in incentives. After drafting Omarion Hampton, one imagines that he will have a hard time hitting those incentives. The Steelers are paying Jaylen Warren slightly more than $5.25 million on a second-round restricted free agent tender.
During his Steelers career, Harris rushed for 4,312 yards over four seasons. But he averaged 3.9 yards per carry for his career with a 46.4-percent run success rate. Some of that has to do with Pittsburgh’s inefficiency, however. The Chargers are counting on him and Hampton thriving in their system.
According to previous reports, Harris’ $4 million in incentives are tied to rushing yards. He has spent much of his career splitting snaps with Jaylen Warren, so that’s not new to him. However, it will be interesting to see what share of the load Omarion Hampton takes for the Chargers right away.
Over the past two seasons, Hampton led all of the ACC in rushing attempts, so he is used to shouldering the load—surely a selling point for Harbaugh and the Chargers. In 2023, he rushed for 1,504 yards on 253 attempts with 15 touchdowns. Last season, he added another 1,660 yards on 281 attempts and 15 touchdowns. He averaged 138.3 rushing yards in 2024 for the Tar Heels.
In the lead-up to the draft, Chargers GM Joe Hortiz dropped an interesting hint when asked about Omarion Hampton being similar to Najee Harris. “Certainly, you want to build a complete backfield with some versatility”, he said. “But you don’t want to discount a player who is similar to Najee because, again, it may not be a need [now], but it could be a need [in the future]”.
Granted, Harris only signed a one-year contract with the Chargers, so that’s not necessarily a grand revelation. This could be his one and only season in Los Angeles now that they control Hampton for five years. The question for Harris is, how much can he improve his free-agency status for 2025 while splitting reps?
