The Khaki Psychopath did it again. Jim Harbaugh took a break from slamming full glasses of milk with steaks and his heart almost exploding (related?) to turn the Chargers’ franchise around. The Brandon Staley Chargers floundered, wasting years of Herbert’s career. Psycho Jim turned the 5-12 squad into an 11-6 unit. But, despite being a quarterback, his teams are built around defense and running the rock, so there wasn’t much passing game success outside of Ladd McConkey. What will Harbaugh & the Chargers do in his encore performance in L.A.? Let’s look at their overdrafted, underdrafted, and sleeper players for the 2025 fantasy football season.
Overdrafted:
Tre Harris, Wide Receiver (WR59, Pick 149 Overall)
I had a tough time finding an overdrafted player for the Chargers. My gut instinct was Justin Herbert at QB14, but he was QB14 last year, and that was with a partial season of Good Ladd McConkey and a worse running back room, which limited the Chargers’ upside.
My second reaction was to knock down Najee Harris, but his July 4th fireworks injury right-sized his ADP, dropping him down to a more palatable RB40. Quentin Johnston is down to WR63, so he’s not the guy to pick on.
So, we have Tre Harris, by default. I’m not huge on Harris; he is built a lot like Quentin Johnston, and he has a lot of the same issues: drops, focus issues, playing down to the size of his defender. These all combine to give the Chargers a mulligan on the Quentin Johnston roster spot, as he has been one of the bigger wide receiver misses in recent years.
If you look at the numbers, he dominated in 2024, his breakout season. If you look more closely, he dominated against Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest, and Georgia Southern. He wasn’t a slouch against other competition, but those four games buoyed his production that slightly flagged against South Carolina, LSU & Florida. In non-conference games, he averaged 9.5 receptions, 157 yards, and a touchdown. In the SEC, he averaged a (still good, but not as good) 5.5 receptions, 100.5 yards, and 0.8 touchdowns per game.
That being said, those are still good numbers. But, they don’t tell the whole story. They don’t mention the insane focus drop against LSU, they don’t mention that he has zero short or intermediate game, and that he is mainly a nine route guy. The stats don’t show how he has bad hands. They also don’t show how Ole Miss doesn’t run a real offense. They are mostly predicated on throwing the ball as deep as humanly possible and letting the chips fall where they may.
Tre’ Harris could be something, but I am extremely wary about his productivity at the NFL level.
Underdrafted:
Omarion Hampton, Running Back (RB17, Pick 46 Overall)
Najee Harris has fallen a couple of rounds since his eye injury, but there’s been no requisite jump up with Omarion Hampton. I am going to be clear; I can’t get him higher than 16 in my rankings, but that is a very forward-looking 16. He is going to be the alpha in this running back room, and my only concern was Najee Harris potentially showing in camp that he could still do something, potentially shunting Hampton to a 1a role. Well, that blew up in my face (and Najee’s face).
So, we ride with Hampton. He is a throwback running back, a bowling ball in the Alfred Morris mold. He’s bonkers in the open field and is a powerful grinder. I have two main concerns about him: he is a vibes-based runner at the line of scrimmage with questionable vision, and he is not a reliable pass catcher.
That having been said, a vibes-based running approach will work exceptionally well with the Chargers’ offensive line, because the vibes are good. The Chargers are still meshing as a group, and still ranked thirteenth in ESPN’s run block win rate. Warren Sharp’s Football Preview had them as the #6-best line last season, and they’re only getting better. Adding Mekhi Becton to this line should solidify everything for Hampton up front.
Sleeper:
Oronde Gadsden, Tight End (TE41, Pick 295 Overall)
You’re probably reading this after the Hall of Fame Game, because I wrote it the morning after that game, so that’s how time works. Will Dissly had the first touchdown of the preseason for the Chargers, as Trey Lance hit him in the back of the endzone for six. That having been said, Dissly and Gadsden started at tight end, with Tyler Conklin getting a rest day. Gadsden ended up playing the first half and didn’t do anything. I don’t care about anything that happened on Thursday, so I certainly don’t care about that.
Here is an excerpt from our Rookie Roundup:
“Gadsden doesn’t play tight end. Well, officially, he does. Unofficially, there’s very little difference between what he does and what Johnny Wilson does, except that Gadsden is good at it, and Johnny Wilson, as always, can go to hell. Gadsden is a big slot receiver with a massive wingspan who creates mismatch nightmares for defenders. He also has wonderfully deft hands at the end of his long arms, easily plucking balls out of the air. But I struggle with getting extremely excited about any mismatches that Gadsden might create, as he’s a huge wide receiver.
Gadsden does not block—shades of Mike Gesicki levels of not blocking, here (but without the near-perfect RAS). Gadsden’s college accolades come from his receiving prowess, and his conversion from wide receiver shows that Syracuse just changed which position group he takes pictures with. If you look at him through the window of being a wide receiver, he isn’t all that impressive. He is physically impressive, but he has zero separation skills. Gadsden still needs to get some seasoning before a team will trust him on the field. Gadsden flags as a developmental prospect, but one that teams will want to get on their roster to see what they can do. “
