One of the major aspects of the regime change for the Los Angeles Chargers was that Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman and company wanted to go all-in on fixing the running backs. Part of that was worked on by improving the offensive line, but that was also done by bringing in some new faces at running back. Considering that Austin Ekeler departed in free agency and no one else left from the 2023 roster was particularly notable, it probably wasn\u2019t a project that would be accomplished in one year \u2013 but Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz still gave it their best shot.<\/p>\n
It was perhaps a little predictable, but bringing in former Ravens coordinator Greg Roman as well as Jim Harbaugh \u2013 the brother of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh \u2013 they were going to go after some former Ravens. In that pursuit, they plucked both Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. Neither of them are known for being bell-cow backs, but they have both been very capable as part of a committee setup. Edwards \u2013 more of a downhill runner and goal-line back \u2013 had a career-high 810 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns last year. Chances are that he\u2019ll be the most important halfback for the Chargers this year.<\/p>\n
Dobbins had a very promising start in his 2020 rookie year with 805 yards and six yards per carry, but since then has struggled heavily with injuries, only playing eight games in three years. While Edwards has his injury history too, Dobbins is much more of a risk. Expectations on him should be tempered \u2013 if he can stay healthy, he could be a good contributor alongside Edwards \u2013 just like in Baltimore. But he is coming off a torn Achilles from last year, and based on the historical results of running backs after a torn Achilles, the odds are not in his favor.<\/p>\n
The Chargers waited until the sixth round to add a rookie running back, but they got one with a strong resume. Vidal had the second most rushing yards in the nation in 2023 with 1,661 yards plus 14 touchdowns. He is a capable receiver as well. He\u2019s not expected to be that level of bell-cow back in the NFL \u2013 probably in part due to being undersized (also likely the reason he didn\u2019t go until the sixth round).<\/p>\n
However, he could easily end up being the next Ekeler or Darren Sproles type of player for the Chargers \u2013 which would make him a valuable weapon. He should absolutely be a player to watch in training camp and preseason.<\/p>\n
With both Ekeler and Joshua Kelley gone in free agency, Spiller is the only notable member of the Chargers running backs left from the Staley era. Though perhaps \u2018notable\u2019 is a strong word, because he has done very little in two years despite heightened expectations. He started showing a little <\/i>promise late last year, but he has still averaged only 2.5 yards per carry through two years and has zero touchdowns.<\/p>\n
This is very much a make-or-break year for Spiller \u2013 and very possibly a make-or-break off-season for him too. He\u2019ll have a chance in the preseason to show that he can be productive with improved offensive line performance, though there\u2019s still a chance he makes the roster regardless if no one else impresses sufficiently.<\/p>\n
Elijah Dotson was a preseason darling last year, but spent most of the year on the practice squad and had just six touches total. The fact that the Chargers didn\u2019t even try using him later in the year when there were injuries and\/or didn\u2019t have much to play for is telling. Unless Harbaugh is sufficiently impressed, he is likely destined for either the practice squad again or for the waiver wire.<\/p>\n
That leaves Jaret Patterson, who spent some time on the practice squad last year and signed a new reserve\/future contract in January. Interestingly enough, he actually has some history of productivity with the Washington Commanders, having averaged four yards per carry in two years with them on 344 yards and two touchdowns. That may not sound like much, but it\u2019s more than either Spiller or Dotson have accomplished. Build-wise, he\u2019s similar to Vidal at 5\u20198. He\u2019s arguably a sleeper to make the roster if Spiller fails to impress \u2013 particularly to be an alternative to Vidal for his skill-set if he struggles or is hurt.<\/p>\n
There is also Ben Mason at fullback \u2013 another former Raven. He played one game at the end of last season and was only on special teams. Whether he would be used much for the Chargers as a ball carrier or just as a blocker remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Chargers running backs lineup has been heavily revamped heavily this offseason, with two halfbacks from Baltimore at the front of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2355,"featured_media":178904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,18],"tags":[7642,4502,9097,6497,7990,32513],"class_list":["post-178899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-chargers","tag-chargers-featured","tag-gus-edwards","tag-isaiah-spiller","tag-j-k-dobbins","tag-jaret-patterson","tag-kimani-vidal"],"modified_by":"Will Noltie, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}