The Chargers RB room is an interesting one; they brought the band back together with Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. They’re reunited with their former offensive coordinator Greg Roman from their days with the Ravens - he’s a run-first guy. We can say the same about Jim Harbaugh. These two actually coached together in the same capacity in San Francisco from 2011 to 2013, and here’s how they ranked in pass attempts per game: 31st, 31st and 32nd. They were also 3rd, 7th, and 3rd in rushing attempts/game. When Greg Roman was OC in Buffalo, his offense attempted the 2nd-fewest passes while simultaneously racking up the 2nd most rushing attempts. When he was in Baltimore from 2019 to 2022, he ranked 32nd, 32nd, 9th, and 28th in pass attempts. The season they were 9th in pass attempts, by the way, was the season both Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins tore their ACLs right before the season. In those four seasons, his offense ranked 1st, 1st, 3rd, and 7th in rush attempts.
Jim Harbaugh also consistently didn’t have any teams that were pass-first during his college coaching career.
Moral of the story - this is going to be a run-first team. And we need to target these Chargers RBs… but which one? Gus Edwards is going off the board as the RB35, their sixth round pick Kimani Vidal is going off the board as the RB51, and JK Dobbins as the RB56. Off the bat, I want to eliminate JK Dobbins from my draft board. Why? Because he’s coming off an Achilles tear - we just haven’t seen any success stories of a RB coming off that injury in Year 1 and performing well, let alone Year 2 or Year 3. I hate to say it because I love the player, but I’m out on Dobbins this year.
That leaves Gus Edwards and Kimani Vidal. I do think that Edwards’ price tag as the RB35 is an absolute bargain, and I’ll be reaching for him earlier than that anytime I have a zero RB build this time of year, but just in general, I think that’s an amazing price. I think this coaching staff trusts him, they brought him in early, and I think he’s the clear lead in the backfield as of right now, and I think he’s going to be their clear goal line back. Just so you know, Gus is dealing with an unknown injury right now and “should” be ready for camp, so expect his ADP to fall a bit until he’s ready to go.
All that being said - there are a few things that can work against Edwards this off-season besides the injury. Edwards wasn’t overly efficient last year, he’s 29 years old, and I believe Kimani Vidal is no slouch. He’s going to be the one, not JK Dobbins, in my opinion, to really challenge Edwards. He didn’t play in the Power 5, but among the 174 RBs with at least 500 career carries in college, he ranked 10th and 37th in yards after contact and missed tackles forced/att. He’s a good pass protector, as well. So Vidal, going off the board as the RB51 - he’s someone I would be targeting in a backfield that will run a ton, with the only competition being someone who’s never had more than 200 carries in a single season. So if I miss out on Edwards, I’ll be aiming for Vidal around his price.
Here’s another sneaky target - and I’ll give credit to Scott Barrett on this one - he planted the idea in my head and now I can’t get it out - what if Dameon Pierce gets traded to LA - he was great until Bobby Slowik took over and changed the schemes up on them. Pierce couldn’t get anything going last year at all, and Devin Singletary took over that backfield. What if he gets traded to the Chargers? He can go crazy. Just a fun thing to talk about, but I just can’t get it out of my head now. Thanks Scott.
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