Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and Caroline Fenton react to the running back suiting up at practice for the first time since an offseason fireworks injury.
Naji Harris is back at Chargers practice.
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Let’s remember that Naji injured himself in a fireworks incident, but he is back and participated in drills with the football for the first time since this training camp, off to the side.
So, uh, something, nothing, or everything for Naji.
It’s less than something compared to Jordan Love, but more than nothing.
And I think mostly because Naji Harris is stepping into a new team, a new scheme.
He’s getting acclimated with the Chargers, and the Chargers need to be better at running the football if they want to be a contender in the AFC.
If they want to be kind of that fourth team in the AFC that everybody is talking about, especially in a stacked AFC West like we just touched on.
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So I think though an upgraded run game is pivotal for this Chargers team.
And again, Naji Harris, new to this offense, new to this team, new to this scheme.
You’re gonna want to get those valuable offseason reps, and he hasn’t been able to get those.
So it’s not a massive deal, you know, but it’s not nothing in my opinion.
I, I’ll actually go everything.
I think this is a big deal because as you see there, there is gonna be a rotation of running backs.
They have injuries on the offensive line.
Now they’re moving Joe Aldo over to left tackle, which could make the right side of their line susceptible.
You’re gonna need your running backs to be in rhythm from day one, and there are some nuances to how you run and how you see everything behind different line combinations.
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All of this to me really screams, especially in a hardball offense that wants to be physical and just pound the rock.
I think this is everything.
They’re going to look, Omari and Hampton is going to be the star there.
OK, we all acknowledge that.
We acquiesce to that.
Great.
But you’re going to need more than just Omari and Hampton if you really want to contend with the Chiefs.
If it was just the Chargers.
Kind of coming in and saying let’s have a cute season, then it’s not a big deal.
But this is a team that I think genuinely believes that they think they have a shot at the AFC West.
You don’t have a shot unless you get everything.
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You can’t get out of this running game, particularly behind that offensive line that’s already dinged up and making some transitions.
So I’ll give it everything for Naji, mostly because I’m melodramatic.