Omarion Hampton — Week 1: A Touchdown, a Fumble, No Targets
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Hampton carried 12 times for 43 yards and the eight-yard touchdown on third and three with 4:29 left in the first quarter, and lost a fumble at the Arizona 30 with 13:37 left in the second, tied 7–7, the largest win-probability swing of any pass or run in the game. He was not targeted in a 26–14 loss to the Cardinals.
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Seven to seven, 13 37 left in the second quarter, second and 10 at the Arizona 30. Omarion Hampton went around left end, lost the ball on Wingard's tackle, and Arizona recovered at its 34, four yards behind the line. The play was 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 by either team all day. Three plays earlier he had gone 14 yards around right end; the possession had a first down at the 30 and a tie, and it ended with nothing.
The line: 12 carries, 43 yards, one touchdown, five first downs, five of the 12 successful, −4.6 expected points on the carries, most of that the fumble. The touchdown was third and three at the Arizona eight with four 29 left in the first quarter, down seven to nothing, up the middle for eight, +2.2 and 7.7 points of win probability; it capped an eight-play drive from the Chargers 23 on which he had carried three times, for two, none and the score. The longest was the 14. Six carries before halftime for 22 yards, six after for 21, and only one of those in the fourth quarter, two yards on second and one with 11 13 left. His one third-down carry was the touchdown. He was not thrown to; the Chargers' target list does not have his name on it.
The split: Hampton 12, Justin Herbert five, all scrambles, Keaton Mitchell four, all before halftime. 16 designed runs on the day, 10 before halftime and six after, against 10 20 pass plays, and the six second-half runs were all his. The Chargers ran for 81 yards on 21 rush plays counting the scrambles, worth −6.8 expected points, and the fumble accounts for most of it. Kimani Vidal was active and did not touch the ball.
Back in June the preview called Hampton a watchlist, and meant it literally: a rookie who averaged a draftable-starter's points in nine games, priced at pick 17 as the ninth running back on the assumption that a per-game rate scales to a full year, with a real receiving role — 32 catches — and no red flags but games played. The two things to watch were the workload share, 20 touches a game the confirming number, and availability. Sunday was 12 touches, none of them catches, and one of them the biggest swing by any pass or run in the game, the wrong way. One game does not settle a workload and one fumble is not a pattern; it is a first data point below the line the preview drew. The Chargers are home to the Raiders on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Omarion Hampton's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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