The Los Angeles Chargers are coming off a complete beat down from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Losing a game with a point differential of 23, after leading at halftime is a testament to bad coaching, poor play calling, and atrocious trench play. The Chargers running back situation is a major cog for these issues.
Losing in the trenches is often referred to as offensive and defensive lines. However, let’s not forget that running backs play a crucial role in pass protection on passing downs.
Without a strong pass-protecting running back, teams are forced to be one-dimensional with their backs, allowing defenses to “tee off” on the offense.
The Chargers Super Star Running Back In Question
During this off-season, The Chargers signed JK Dobbins. A reclamation project, a player who has struggled with injury his entire career. When healthy, Dobbins is electric and is a three-down back.
He was spectacular in his first year in a Chargers uniform, however, the common theme of injuries followed Dobbins into Los Angeles. He went down in week 12 in his revenge game against the Baltimore Ravens.
His presence was missed mightily in the run game, as backups Gus Edwards and Kimani Vidal have been unable to really replicate the success of Dobbins.
Beyond the lack of success in the run game without Dobbins on the field, what has suffered the most is the pass protection from the running back position.
Chargers Miss JK Dobbins… In Pass Protection
Superstar Quarterback, Justin Herbert is playing hurt… again. Without a proper run game, they are leaning on the pass to win football games, even though that puts Herbert in bad spots to get hit. Herbert is always in the face of adversity.
Herbert was pressured 12 times on Sunday against the Buccaneers. Four of those came from rookie running back, Kimani Vidal, only on 14 pass blocking snaps!
According to PFF, TB pressured Justin Herbert on 12 of his 36 dropbacks (33.3%).
Pressures credited:
Kimani Vidal – 4 (1 sack, 1 hit)
Bradley Bozeman – 2 (2 sacks)
Zion Johnson – 2
Joe Alt – 1 (sack)
Eric Tomlinson – 1 (hit)
Jamaree Salyer – 1
Rashawn Slater – 1
Trey Pipkins – 0— Guilty As Charged Podcast (@GACPodcast17) December 16, 2024
This is in comparison to JK Dobbins who has seven pressures allowed across the entire season (up to week 12). He is severely missed in this Chargers offense, especially now with Herbert hobbled.
Furthermore, on those snaps, Vidal gave up a sack and a hit on Herbert. This is not to be a diss on Vidal, as rookie running backs are known to be poor in pass protection. Even offensive coordinator, Greg Roman acknowledged this, which makes his play-calling and personnel selection even more confusing.
Greg Roman in regards to Vidal in pass protection: “I think there’s some reps he’d like to have back. Some good learning experiences for him there… young guys in pass pro, it’s universal. They gotta learn.”
Chargers Running Backs: Pass Protection Stats
JK Dobbins: The Gold Standard (For This Running Back Room)
Pass Blocking Snaps: 77
PFF Pass Blocking Grade: 69.9
Sacks Allowed: 1
Pressures Allowed: 7
Hits Allowed: 1
Dobbins has the best grade of the group, with good efficiency numbers considering he has the most snaps in pass protection. For a smaller running back this is even more impressive.
The rest of the group needs to start playing at a level similar to Dobbins in pass protection if the Chargers want a fighting chance in the playoffs.
J.K. Dobbins getting a lot of shine for his 135 rushing yards in Week 1, and deservedly so.
He was equally as good in pass protection. pic.twitter.com/ZUl1lKUYR1
— Daniel Popper (@danielrpopper) September 10, 2024
Gus Edwards: A Surprising Lack Of Ability In Pass Protection
Pass Blocking Snaps: 20
PFF Pass Blocking Grade: 46.6
Sacks Allowed: 0
Pressures Allowed: 2
Hits Allowed: 0
Edwards is a bit head-scratcher, as he is not the best pass-catching threat. However, he still remains in the backfield on passing downs as a receiving threat. He has 79 passing snaps in the backfield on passing plays, with only 20 of them being in pass protection. This means 59 of those snaps he was out running a route.
Maybe not the smartest way to utilize a player.
Furthermore, as a pass protector, he overall has been grading out well. He has six games with over a 60.0 (average) PFF grade. He has three games under, with one atrocious game in week 14 against the Kansas City Chiefs. An 11.7 pass-blocking grade is half (!) the grade that Sam Mustipher had in the first matchup against the Chiefs. Other than the low lows in PFF grading and Edwards missing games, he has been overall solid not allowing much pressure and not allowing any hits or sacks.
One thing that's flown under the radar is how good the RBs were in pass protection. Gus Edwards here picks up the blitz on a huge 3rd down conversion at the time pic.twitter.com/pBRuoKhOtj
— Garrett Sisti (@GarrettSisti) September 10, 2024
He may be a good enough solution until they have Dobbins healthy again, as they were both free agents brought in from the Ravens, having this situation play out beforehand.
Kimani Vidal: The Rookie Who Needs To Develop
Pass Blocking Snaps: 26
PFF Pass Blocking Grade: 42.2
Sacks Allowed: 3
Pressures Allowed: 6
Hits Allowed: 1
The rookie has been discussed earlier in this article, however, with all of the statistics laid out, it does not help his case.
Even if Vidal is an excellent pass-catching back (which he has the potential to be) he needs to refine his pass-protection skills to give the defense less of a chance to predict of what he is going to do on plays he is in for.
Get to know the name Kimani Vidal.
first NFL touch = first NFL touchdown pic.twitter.com/YUm3NoBgkM
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) October 13, 2024
Hassan Haskins: The Next Best Option… But It’s Still Not Great
Pass Blocking Snaps: 15
PFF Pass Blocking Grade: 48.8
Sacks Allowed: 0
Pressures Allowed: 2
Hits Allowed: 0
Haskins has the smallest sample size of all the running backs but shows some interesting promise. He has a similar case to Edwards where he is a bigger runner but has not graded out well in pass protection.
Hassan Haskins chip pic.twitter.com/djTBaV3Mal
— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) November 26, 2024
This, like Edwards, is due to an awful PFF score of 19.4 in one of his games, which was the same first Chiefs game that Mustipher was terrible. The Chiefs just overwhelmed the entire pass-protecting unit that day. With more snaps, Haskins has the potential to become that rock in pass protection. He has immense special teams ability which has some overlap in technique, however, like Edwards and Vidal, Haskins is missing the ability to be fully versatile in his game to be a threat in all phases.
Main Photo: [Kirby Lee] – USA Today Sports
