Omarion Hampton, Kimani Vidal fantasy football outlook vs. Chiefs

The Los Angeles Chargers are more than happy to have a good problem on their hands when deciding whether to roll with Omarion Hampton or Kimani Vidal as the lead back in Week 15 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Those who roster Hampton and Vidal in fantasy football leagues, though, aren’t nearly as happy with the situation.

Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman won’t say much about how he intends to use Hampton and Vidal in the freezing temperatures in Kansas City, either.

One would think the rough weather means a heavy dose of the ground game. But whether it’s Hampton or Vidal about to get notable chances is very much up for debate.

Start Omarion Hampton? It feels right

Everything we know about the Omarion Hampton & Kimani Vidal situation:

November 26: Chargers OC Greg Roman says "You'll see some sort of 1-2 punch"

December 5: Omarion Hampton says "Me and him [Vidal] gonna be special"

December 8: In Hampton's first game back, both Hampton and… pic.twitter.com/e4pENU5JCW
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) December 12, 2025

Hampton returned last week from injured reserve and ran 13 times for 56 yards and caught two passes with a score.

A total of 15 touches on 22 snaps isn’t too shabby or unexpected for a guy who just got back from an injury.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is the breakdown of chances within the offense, via FantasyPros:

“Hampton had a 17.1% route share and 7.7% target share while being the goal-line back with five red-zone rushing attempts. Hampton will likely see his role grow this week, and it'll be a more even split with Kimani Vidal. That still only makes Hampton an RB2/3 with a bad matchup.”

The bad matchup deserves a look too: The Chiefs are one of the most stalwart defenses against fantasy football running back production. And they’ll know the Chargers want to run the ball in the cold while protecting quarterback Justin Herbert as he plays with a surgically repaired non-throwing hand.

Start Kimani Vidal? Maybe not

Los Angeles Chargers running back Kimani Vidal — Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Vidal has been a nice surprise for the Chargers as a lead back. That continued last week even with Hampton in the mix, as he ate nearly 70 percent of the snaps. Along the way, he totaled 104 yards on just 15 touches.

But a disclaimer: Sixty of those yards came on one checkdown via a catch. That’s not a surefire thing to have happen every week. Take out the 60 receiving yards and his highest total all season in a game is 15 receiving yards.

Likewise, Vidal has topped 100 yards three times this season. The odds he does so again with Hampton back in the mix are a tough sell.

Some of this admittedly comes down to simple projection. Hampton is the first-round investment and more of an every-down back. The Chargers could certainly ride Vidal if he has the hot hand, but it feels much safer to think that Hampton on fresh legs is the guy who will start dominating the backfield chances sooner rather than later.

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