As the Los Angeles Chargers have attempted to carve out a path to an effective run game through the first four weeks of the season, the devastating Achilles injury to starting running back Najee Harris has brought a healthy amount of doubt into the team's backfield situation.
While rookie running back Omarion Hampton had a breakout game in Week 4 against the New York Giants, he was the only running back on the roster to get any carries whatsoever, and, as the season wears on, it would be surprising if they did not, at some point, go to third-stringer Hassan Haskins for support.
In the meantime, however, trade speculation has abounded as to who Los Angeles could potentially add between now and the trade deadline to bolster their backcourt, and it remains to be seen whether a Hampton-Haskins backfield will ultimately be the best thing for this team.
Why don't the Chargers utilize Hassan Haskins when they need him most?
When Harris went down in the team's Week 3 matchup against the Denver Broncos, fans had ample reason to be concerned. Although Hampton, who the Chargers selected 22nd overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, had shown much promise coming out of college, he had been utilized in a rather limited fashion across his first two games with the team.
With a full game as the lead back, however, Hampton showed his full skill-set. In the team's defeat against the Giants, he had 12 carries totaling to 128 yards and a touchdown along with five receptions on five targets.
Yet, two peculiar developments stand out from this performance. Firstly, even when taking on lead back duties, Hampton only got 12 carries against a New York defense that has been the amongst the bottom of the league in effectiveness against the run this season.
Moreover, Hampton was the only running back (repeat that, the only) to get a carry in Week 4 for the Chargers.
While Hampton performed exceedingly well, the team will slowly need to lean on its run game more and more throughout the season as its offensive line hopefully gets healthier, and the rookie back cannot be asked to take on that sort of a workload. There needs to be an RB2 somewhere.
On last year's roster, which featured J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Kimani Vidal at various points throughout the season, Haskins was mostly the RB4, only taking on 34 carries on the year. Yet, at 6'2" and 228 lbs, he presents a slightly larger frame than Hampton's: one that can be relied upon to take on tough third down situations and potentially even some goal-line reps.
While Haskins is not necessarily the bruising back or the versatile threat you would usually want as your RB2, limiting the run game to this extent, especially against poor run defenses, is a confounding thing to prefer over simply leaning on Haskins for the time being.
If the Chargers want to put together any semblance of a dangerous run game this season, Hampton cannot be asked to take the whole of that burden onto his shoulders, and either Haskins or a mid-season acquisition must now take on part of that mantle.