The Los Angeles Chargers had an outstanding 2024 regular season, securing the AFC’s fifth seed with an 11-6 record. A disappointing Wild Card Round loss ended their postseason early, and Jim Harbaugh’s team looks to the future with the 22nd overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Quarterback Justin Herbert had a highly efficient season in 2024, but the Chargers have to add more weapons to compete in the AFC. PFSN’s latest mock draft has them adding a 36-TD, true junior running back with their first-round pick.
Chargers Predicted To Select North Carolina Standout at No. 22
Herbert was excellent in the regular season, throwing for 3,870 yards, 23 touchdowns, and three interceptions, but had an awful day against the Houston Texans, throwing four picks in the Wild Card Round. He’s still the future of the franchise, but he’ll need some more help in 2025.
Los Angeles’s best offensive weapon was rookie receiver Ladd McConkey, who caught 82 balls for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns. He was Herbert’s most consistent option, as the next leading receiver was Quentin Johnston, with 711 yards.
The running game was driven by J.K. Dobbins, who returned from a torn Achilles in 2023. The four-year vet led the team with 905 yards and nine touchdowns in 13 games. Dobbins missed four games with an MCL injury, and the team got little from the rest of the running back room, with Gus Edwards next in line at just 365 rushing yards.
Harbaugh loves to run the ball and bully his opponents, so adding another running back is logical. PFSN’s Brentley Weissman expects Los Angeles to do that by selecting North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton with the 22nd pick in the draft.
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Weissman wrote, “J.K. Dobbins was one of the best stories in the NFL last season, and his comeback from all of his injuries was amazing to see. He was very productive when on the field, but I am still not confident that the Los Angeles Chargers can count on Dobbins (free agent in 2025) as their workhorse moving forward.
“Omarion Hampton is one of the best backs in the class and plays with the type of violence and power that head coach Jim Harbaugh appreciates. He would add physicality and burst to the Chargers’ offense.”
Hampton finished his three-year college career with back-to-back 1,500+ yard seasons for the Tar Heels. He rushed for 1,660 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2024 on the heels of 1,504 yards and another 15 scores in 2023. Both years he led the ACC in carries and yards, so the true junior has proven he can be a team’s workhorse.
At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, he measured 5′ 11 6/8″, 221 pounds, and put on a show during testing. CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards broke down his performance, writing, “His athleticism was also on full display, as he ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash to go along with a 38-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-10 broad jump. That gave him an unofficial Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.93, which ranked 14th out of 1909 running backs from 1987 to 2025.”
Hampton is the real deal and would be a perfect fit for Harbaugh’s Chargers. Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry made the running back position cool again in 2024, and multiple ball carriers being drafted in the first round would signify that the position is back.
Why won’t harbaugh look at drafting tez Johnson from Oregon or Troy Ferguson?