The Chargers Answered Pressing Questions Following Week 1

The Chargers Answered Pressing Questions Following Week 1

Question #1 – How Does the Najee Harris & Omarion Hampton RB Rotation Go?

Week 1 for the Chargers offense yielded an unsatisfactory rushing attack from their running back room. Justin Herbert had the most explosive rushing day due to all of the scrambling he did against this potent Chiefs defense. That said, the leader of the running back room between Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris ended up being the rookie, Hampton.

While this was not the biggest surprise, as Harris is battling a secretive eye injury, Hampton getting 15 carries in comparison to one carry for Harris should definitely be considered a surprise. The former Steelers back went from a possible IR candidate to suited up and playing within the span of around two weeks. This rapid change allowed for some doubt to creep into Hampton’s Week 1 workload, yet, after the Chargers’ Week 1 matchup, nothing changed from what was initially considered after the eye injury was sustained.

Answer: Omarion Hampton was the lead back, garnering 80% of the workload, while Najee Harris had 18%. The other 2% went to the third running back, Hassan Haskins.

Question #2 – Which DBs Get Majority of the Snaps?

In my previous article discussing said pre-Week 1 questions, I discussed the belief the Chargers have in this DB room, even while the fans have their own doubts. “Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter has been open in his belief that he has four starting cornerbacks. These CBs are Donte Jackson, Tarheeb Still, Cam Hart, and Benjamin St-Juste. While Chargers fans can get on board with the first three being the starters, many felt disbelief in St-Juste due to his reputation in Washington and his lackluster preseason play.”

When playing Nickel, which is the usual formation to play in the modern NFL, defenses will have five DBs (hence the name, Nickel) on the field, which means with the four “starting” CBs and the Chargers three “starting” Safeties (Derwin James, Alohi Gilman, Elijah Molden), there are two odd men out in the formation. This question is asking which of the Chargers DBs gets the majority of the snaps?

Answer: The Chargers’ defense five DBs with the most snaps were: Alohi Gilman & Derwin James with 100% of the snaps, Tarheeb Still with 98%, Elijah Molden with 90% and Donte Jackson with 74%. It should be mentioned that Cam Hart is close behind the group with 64%. Benjamin St-Juste only had 7% of the snaps.

Question #3 – Can the Chargers’ Offensive Line Set a Good Foundation in Week 1?

Quite possibly the biggest question of the entire off-season surrounding the Chargers was their offensive line. This team faced major turmoil by re-signing their most controversial starter from last season, then only signing one free agent to “sure up” their woes. After these decisions, their best offensive linemen tore their patellar tendons, missing the entire season and possibly some of next year.

All of this discourse and decisions yielded much concern from the fan base. Week 1 for the Chargers was a major test to see if, even with all of the woes suffered on the offensive line, it could just be a bump in the road, not a stop for the rest of the season. The Chiefs’ defensive line was a very good barometer to see where the Chargers were at, considering they have Chris Jones and George Karlaftis.

Answer: This Chargers offense put up 27 points on this Chiefs team, in large part due to the pass protection proficiency shown throughout the entirety of the matchup. While there were some struggles in the run game, the offensive line unit as a whole showed major progression from last season, allowing fans to believe that a possible strong foundation for the rest of the season has been set.