Breakout season? Or Sophomore slump? That’s the million dollar question surrounding Chargers running back Omarion Hampton heading into his second NFL campaign.
After suffering an ankle injury which limited Hampton to just 9 games in 2025, there isn’t an extensive roadmap to refer to for fantasy owners. Most 2nd year players who generate offseason buzz do so because they ended the regular season on a tear. But with Hampton only having 6 official “starts” last season, he’ll be a high ceiling, low floor play based on his current ADP of 15th overall according to the Fantasy Pros data set.
The argument for taking Hampton as your RB1 or high end RB2 is fairly straight forward. There’s perhaps no better offensive line in the NFL than the Chargers when they’re all healthy. When Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt are setting the edges for you, you’re in good hands. Couple that with the fact that a Jim Harbaugh team’s identity has been run heavy at every level he’s coached at and there isn’t any real worry about volume either.
Then there’s the competition for touches in the backfield. Hampton is the clear RB1 this season, with Keaton Mitchell, Kimani Vidal, and Jaret Patterson left to duke it out for the rest of the pecking order on the west coast.
New offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is almost assuredly going to want to have QB Justin Herbert take some more shots down field than he has to this point in his career. But Hampton is no slouch in the passing game, so that could also work in his favour. While preseason “coach talk” should usually be taken with a grain of salt (everyone shows up in the best shape of their lives every offseason after all…), Hampton did tell reporters this week that McDaniel allegedly told him “I remind him of Hall of Famer Terrell Davis”.
Those who are taking Hampton at the top of the 2nd round would likely be thrilled to get the kind of workhorse production Davis had in Denver out of the 23 year old this season. But whether that pans out to be true is an entirely different conversation.
On the flip side of the coin, the arguments against Hampton aren’t so much rooted in a disbelief of his skill set. He is after all a 6′ 220lbs bowling ball who rumbled his way to 545 yards and 4 TDs in just 6 starts. There’s a reason he was a 1st round pick out of North Carolina in a league that is gun-shy about taking running backs that high.
Instead, the argument is whether or not he can live up to the kind of draft capital required to take him at his currently projected draft slot. You can afford to swing and miss on mid to late round picks in your draft. But if you whiff on picks 1 or 2, you’ve got an uphill battle ahead of you for the rest of the season.
Do you take the tantalizing upside of Hampton in a new look Chargers offence with a (hopefully) fully healthy offensive line? Or do you take a safer floor player in a Kenneth Walker, Chase Brown, Derrick Henry, or Breece Hall? If you’re in a PPR league, you’re taking him over the likes of target monsters like Drake London, A.J. Brown, and Nico Collins. You’re also taking him over every tight end in the league (which may not be a bad thing), but if you’re playing in a TE premium scoring league likely isn’t wise either.
To be clear, there’s absolutely a universe in which Hampton outperforms his RB9 preseason ranking and potentially even flirts with a top 5 fantasy scoring output. But there’s also a world in which players like rookie Jeremiyah Love, or fellow 2nd year back TreVeyon Henderson outperform him as well. Add in wildcards who are stepping into new offences such as David Montgomery (HOU), or Travis Etienne Jr. (NO), and there are suddenly a ton of options to forgo an early 2nd round pick in Hampton and grab some serviceable replacements a few rounds later.
Is Hampton a tantalizing pick based on his draft pedigree and situation? Absolutely. But would I be trying to get cute with a pick of him if I’m sitting at the turn in a 10-12 person league? That may be a bridge too far for me personally. If you’re able to grab him at the tail end of round 2 (possibly pairing him up with a Jahmyr Gibbs or Bijan Robinson if you picked at the top of the draft), or the start of round 3, that would be more in my comfort zone. Anything higher than that and I’m likely looking at a different draft path for my fantasy team in 2026.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
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