Running back may not look like a roster need for the LA Chargers after Kimani Vidal's excellent showing on Thursday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings. But with uncertainty around Omarion Hampton's timeline to return from injury, the Chargers adding a running back is borderline non-negotiable.
After all, it has been reported that the Chargers are in the market for running back help. It was too difficult to swing a trade on a short week, but with no game over the weekend, the Chargers' front office had a real chance to sit back and take some notes on the potential running back trade market.
General manager Joe Hortiz should've been watching the Cleveland Browns-New England Patriots game closely and if so, he learned all he needed to learn. Despite Quinshon Judkins' injury in the game, veteran running back Jerome Ford did not carry the ball a single time in the Browns' loss.
Ford is clearly expendable, and the Chargers may need to pounce.
Jerome Ford is a no-brain trade target for the Chargers after Week 8
Judkins suffered a shoulder injury in the second half that knocked him out for the rest of the game. As scary as it was for Browns fans in the moment, it does not appear to be a long-term concern. The injury itself was not that severe and the Browns are on bye next week.
The injury shouldn't impact the Browns' willingness to part ways with Ford. In fact, the way they handled the running back rotation made it pretty clear that Ford is the odd man out in Cleveland.
Rookie Dylan Sampson played 25 offensive snaps, his most since Week 1 when Judkins was inactive. Ford, meanwhile, played only 13. This is back-to-back weeks with only 13 offensive snaps for Ford, who logged a 41 and 35 snaps in the first two games of the season.
It's clear the Browns are phasing Ford out to focus on the youth of the running back room. And with that, they have an opportunity to gain future draft capital from a needy team like the Chargers.
Ford being phased out in Cleveland does not change how impactful he could be on the Chargers. A true dual-threat back, Ford could give the Chargers a true running back split with Vidal while Hampton recovers from his high-ankle sprain.
This running back split can serve as an audition of sorts for the Chargers. Hampton will slide back into being the true RB1 once he returns and adding Ford only gives the Chargers another option to be Hampton's running mate.
The Chargers will want to ease Hampton back into a starting workload and they still need a change-of-pace back to complement him in the running game. Ford can do that.
The cost will be minimal. The Chargers would likely send a future sixth-round pick and get a future seventh-round pick back in return. And while Ford won't completely reinvent the Chargers' offense, he will give the team another option they can trust who averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season.