The Chargers will be starting their season in under 4 hours, and Jim Harbaugh says it will be with Najee Harris starting at tailback. Harris has been limited by an eye injury suffered in a fireworks accident for almost two weeks, but he’s ready to go.
Harris has been a full participant in practice, and he’s listed as the first-string tailback on the team’s depth chart, with rookie Omarion Hampton listed second.
This doesn’t mean Harris will get 20 touches. It doesn’t even guarantee that he’ll be their busiest back. More likely, they’ll both be playing earlier, and they’ll go from there.
"He [Harris] says he's ready, and he looks ready to go," Harbaugh said. "Really hard to predict play counts. He's going to play football and have at it. That's the mindset."
For fantasy purposes, I think this tightens things up. Entering the week, I was thinking of Hampton as the starter, with Harris getting some change-of-pace work. In the Wednesday rankings, Hampton was about 16th among running backs, with Harris just inside the top 50. Now I would put Hampton at about 30th, with Harris just a couple of spots back.
Even though Hampton (apparently) won’t be on the field, I’m still expecting him to get a comparable number of touches. And the rookie has a lot more ability to maybe rip off a long gainer. Harris doesn’t have that kind of speed (but might be more likely to get used at the 1-yard line).
Running back is a position where guys can come in and produce immediately.
Below see the 29 running backs picked in the first or second round in the last 10 years who’ve also played in Week 1 – their first game. Nine backs have finished with at least 80 total yards (tagged with black dots), and another nine have scored a touchdown (also tagged with black dots).
Six of the 29 have done both (over 80 yards and a touchdown) and they’ve got double dots.
| ROOKIE RUNNING BACKS IN FIRST GAMES (last 10 yrs) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Pk | Opp | Result | Rushing | Receiving | PPR |
| 2019 | •• Josh Jacobs, Oak. | 24 | Den. | W, 24-16 | 23-85-2 | 1-28-0 | 24.3 |
| 2017 | •• Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 4 | at Hou. | W, 29-7 | 26-100-1 | 3-24-0 | 21.4 |
| 2018 | •• Saquon Barkley, NYG | 2 | Jac. | L, 15-20 | 18-106-1 | 2-22-0 | 20.8 |
| 2023 | •• Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 8 | Car. | W, 24-10 | 10-56-0 | 6-27-1 | 20.3 |
| 2020 | •• Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 32 | Hou. | W, 34-20 | 25-138-1 | 0-0-0 | 19.8 |
| 2015 | •• Ameer Abdullah, Det. | 54 | at S.D. | L, 28-33 | 7-50-1 | 4-44-0 | 19.4 |
| 2017 | • Dalvin Cook, Min. | 41 | N.O. | W, 29-19 | 22-127-0 | 3-10-0 | 16.7 |
| 2020 | • Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 41 | at Jac. | L, 20-27 | 9-22-0 | 6-67-0 | 14.9 |
| 2020 | • J.K. Dobbins, Balt. | 55 | Cle. | W, 38-6 | 7-22-2 | 0-0-0 | 14.2 |
| 2017 | • Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 8 | at S.F. | W, 23-3 | 13-47-0 | 5-38-0 | 13.5 |
| 2016 | • Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 4 | NYG | L, 19-20 | 20-51-1 | 1-1-0 | 12.2 |
| 2022 | Breece Hall, NYJ | 36 | Balt. | L, 9-24 | 6-23-0 | 6-38-0 | 12.1 |
| 2020 | • D'Andre Swift, Det. | 35 | Chi. | L, 23-27 | 3-8-1 | 3-15-0 | 11.3 |
| 2015 | T.J. Yeldon, Jac. | 36 | Car. | L, 9-20 | 12-51-0 | 3-16-0 | 9.7 |
| 2015 | Melvin Gordon, S.D. | 15 | Det. | W, 33-28 | 14-51-0 | 3-16-0 | 9.7 |
| 2018 | Rashaad Penny, Sea. | 27 | at Den. | L, 24-27 | 7-8-0 | 4-35-0 | 8.3 |
| 2023 | Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 12 | at K.C. | W, 21-20 | 7-42-0 | 2-18-0 | 8.0 |
| 2018 | Derrius Guice, Was. | 59 | at Phil. | L, 27-32 | 10-18-0 | 3-20-0 | 6.8 |
| 2018 | Kerryon Johnson, Det. | 43 | NYJ | L, 17-48 | 5-17-0 | 3-20-0 | 6.7 |
| 2016 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 45 | Min. | L, 16-25 | 5-3-0 | 2-41-0 | 6.4 |
| 2021 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 24 | at Buff. | W, 23-16 | 16-45-0 | 1-4-0 | 5.9 |
| 2017 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 48 | Balt. | L, 0-20 | 8-9-0 | 3-15-0 | 5.4 |
| 2020 | Cam Akers, LAR | 52 | Dall. | W, 20-17 | 14-39-0 | 1-4-0 | 5.3 |
| 2021 | Javonte Williams, Den. | 35 | at NYG | W, 27-13 | 14-45-0 | 1-(-4)-0 | 5.1 |
| 2019 | Miles Sanders, Phil. | 53 | Was. | W, 32-27 | 11-25-0 | 1-2-0 | 3.7 |
| 2018 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 35 | Pitt. | T, 21-21 (OT) | 3-21-0 | 0-0-0 | 2.1 |
| 2020 | AJ Dillon, G.B. | 62 | at Min. | W, 43-34 | 2-14-0 | 0-0-0 | 1.4 |
| 2023 | Zach Charbonnet, Sea. | 52 | LAR | L, 13-30 | 3-11-0 | 0-0-0 | 1.1 |
| 2022 | James Cook, Buff. | 63 | at LAR | W, 31-10 | 1-2-0 | 0-0-0 | .2 |
—Ian Allan