Kimani Vidal — Week 1: Active, Sixteen Handoffs, None His

Kimani Vidal's name does not appear in the play-by-play of Sunday's game. He was not among the Chargers listed inactive — Deane Leonard, RJ Mickens, Logan Taylor, Alex Harkey and Trevor Penning, per Eric Smith at Chargers.com — and across the whole play-by-play he is not in a single description. No carry, no target, no return, no penalty. The Chargers lost 26 to 14 and ran 16 designed runs, and none of them went to him.

What the backfield did without him is the football. Omarion Hampton carried 12 times for 43 yards and a touchdown — up the middle from the eight on third and three with four 29 left in the first quarter, tying it at seven — and lost a fumble at the Arizona 30 with 13 37 left in the second quarter, tied seven to seven, a play worth −5.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −12.7 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest swing on any pass or run in the game. Keaton Mitchell carried four times for nine yards, all before halftime. Justin Herbert scrambled five times for 29. That is the whole rushing line: 21 rush plays counting the scrambles, 81 yards, −6.8 expected points. Hampton was not thrown to either; the passing game went seven times to Ladd McConkey, six each to Quentin Johnston and Tre Harris, five to David Njoku, two to Oronde Gadsden and one to Derius Davis, and no running back is on the list; the one throw to a back, a four-yard completion to Keaton Mitchell in the fourth quarter, was wiped out by a holding penalty.

The shape of the game explains some of the count. The Chargers ran 10 designed runs and 10 pass plays before halftime, and six and 20 after, and the six second-half runs all went to Hampton. Mitchell's last touch came with two 57 left in the first half. Between the two of them there were 16 handoffs, and the play-by-play leaves Vidal behind both.

Back in June the preview called Vidal a watchlist for a reason that had nothing to do with his production — a top-35 back per game a year ago when Hampton's injury handed him the volume, priced at pick two 12 as the 60-fifth back because the role that produced it belonged to a healthy first-rounder and a new signing. The read was priced for a backup, capable of more only if the injury lottery repeats. Sunday was the backup's line: active, dressed, no touches, and the two backs ahead of him took every handoff. One game confirms the depth chart, not the ceiling; the preview said Hampton's availability was the entire ceiling here, and Hampton carried in all four quarters. The Chargers are home to the Raiders on Sunday the twentieth. The first number to look for is the first carry.

_Data via nflverse._