Not much went according to plan for the Los Angeles Chargers last season, including their signing of iron-man running back Najee Harris.
After the Chargers let JK Dobbins walk in the offseason, they needed a running back to partner with newly-drafted rookie Omarion Hampton in the backfield— one that could get consistent, moderate gains on the ground and remain healthy over the course of a 17-game campaign.
Harris fit that bill exactly.
He never displayed immense upside during his four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an explosive-play threat. But he could be trusted to operate consistently between the tackles. He never missed a game in a Steelers uniform, and he topped 1,000 yards in each of his seasons there.
But just three games into his tenure in Los Angeles, Harris tore his Achilles while running a routine play in the Chargers backfield. Los Angeles then lost Omarion Hampton for a significant chunk of the season with an ankle injury.
Although the Chargers' signing of Keaton Mitchell and the emergence of Kimani Vidal blocked Harris' path back to the organization, that pedigree meant he was likely deserving of another lifeline this offseason. As the league rounds into the third week of training camp, the New York Giants have granted that to him— and it could be a career-reviving opportunity for the sixth-year back.
Najee Harris will have his work cut out for him in New York— but he could come to be an important piece of the offense
The new-look Giants offense under John Harbaugh still needs to take shape. But we do know that Harbaugh favors a run-heavy brand of football, and he'll likely look to form the New York offense under Jaxson Dart in that image.
That leaves a heavy workload for both Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy. The pair of backs, for better or worse, have solidifed a sort of 1A-1B relationship in New York. Skattebo, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft by New York, has upside as a down-to-down playmaker. He can consistently work his way between the tackles and leverage his size and downhill rushing ability to push into the second level.
But even in his shortened rookie campaign, it was easy to see that he'll likely be more injury-prone than the average running back. He's not afraid of contact in the slightest, and he often puts himself into compromising positions multiple times a game. He appeared in just eight games last season after suffering a gruesome ankle injury, and he's already been spotted doing a backflip at a public event this offseason.
Tracy, meanwhile, has explosive-play potential when he gets into open space, but it's hard to trust him with the sort of workload that would be required if Skattebo were to go down.
That might be where Harris comes in. Apart from him, the Giants also have Devin Singletary, Eric Gray, and Damon Bankston on the 90-man roster. If Harris can beat out Singletary—who posted 437 yards on 119 rushing attempts last season as the RB3 in New York—he could position himself as the heir apparent to those touches when Skattebo inevitably needs to miss time.
Given that over half of training camp has already expired, Harris will need to prove himself rather quickly if he wants to be anything other than a practice squad candidate. But the Giants, at the very least, have given Harris the opportunity to do so— a stroke of luck after a disastrous injury ended his brief Chargers tenure.
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