The run game has plagued the LA Chargers in the Justin Herbert era. It's why the front office spent a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on a running back and why fans are so excited about offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel as the cure.
Even with an elite quarterback, the mediocre-at-best run game has capped the ceiling of the Chargers' offense. Los Angeles ranked 13th in rushing yards per attempt last season, 24th the year before, 27th in 2023, 30th in 2022... you get the picture.
McDaniel's offensive wizardry, mixed with the talent in the running back room, is supposed to fix this issue once and for all for the Chargers. However, fans are still waiting to see a glimpse of this new-look rushing attack with only one preseason game remaining before they really start to count.
Chargers have one more preseason game to prove the rushing attack is different
Yes, it's the preseason and the results don't matter. Yes, we are getting an incomplete look of what the offense looks like both from a personnel standpoint and from a play-calling standpoint. The Chargers aren't going to run their starters out in the preseason and McDaniel isn't going to throw out the entire call sheet in a game that doesn't matter.
That being said, you can still see the bones of an offense in the preseason and the results thus far have left more to be desired. Primarily, the depth pieces alongside the interior offensive line have disappointed, which unfortunately for the Bolts, will translate to the regular season.
The left guard battle is officially a pillow fight with Jake Slaughter no longer in the mix. Slaughter is slated to start at center after Tyler Biadasz's injury and, candidly, didn't look the greatest against the San Francisco 49ers. Then you have right guard Cole Strange, who has literally been bad his entire career and has continued that trend in the preseason thus far.
The numbers from last Thursday's preseason loss reflect the poor efforts in the run game. Los Angeles averaged 3.4 yards per carry but that was heavily skewed by one big run from quarterback Trey Lance. The Bolts averaged 1.6 yards per carry outside of Lance's 37-yard carry.
Kimani Vidal ran the ball four times for six yards, Keaton Mitchell went -1 yard in his three carries, Omarion Hampton got just one carry for -1 yard. Greg Desrosiers Jr. was the only RB to average over 2.5 yards per carry and his numbers were also skewed by one moderate gain.
Los Angeles saw more success in the first preseason game of the year, but it still wasn't great. Running backs averaged under three yards per carry and the backs who matter particularly struggled. Vidal carried the ball five times for only eight yards.
Yes, the results should be better when Hampton is getting the ball and he has his All-Pro-caliber tackles to bounce it outside to. But the interior offensive line is struggling, and quite frankly, McDaniel's offense hasn't looked like the revolutionary offense it was pitched to be, at least in the run game.
Hopefully the Chargers are saving it all for the regular season. If not, the Bolts will naturally be capped by a mediocre run game once more.
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