The Los Angeles Chargers are about to hit rock bottom at running back. The team continues to be one of the most banged-up teams in the league and another running back will be missing some playing time.
On Tuesday, head coach Jim Harbaugh stated that Hassan Haskins is doubtful for Thursday Night Football due to a hamstring injury. That means that the Chargers will go into that game without a single running back who was on the 53-man roster to open the season.
Kimani Vidal remains the only active running back on the roster and the team keeps stockpiling as many options as it can on the practice squad. On Tuesday, the team signed veteran Trayveon Williams to the practice squad.
The team's current practice squad has these running backs on it:
Nyheim Hines
Jaret Patterson
Amar Johnson
Trayveon Williams
It's likely that at least two of those players will join Vidal on the roster for Thursday night's Week 8 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Hines would be the most likely name to be elevated, but either Patterson or Johnson could be the other.
The Chargers, a team that planned to be driven by running the football, have already seen Najee Harris go down with a season-ending injury and first-round pick Omarion Hampton land on injured reserve. With Haskins now going down, the team has lost its top three running backs.
Haskins has gained only 30 yards on the ground this season, but he does a lot of the things that don't show up in the box score, such as blocking and making plays on special teams, where the team already has a big hole after the questionable decision to release Caleb Murphy this past weekend.
The Chargers are going to need to strongly consider acquiring a running back via trade before the November 4 deadline.
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