Najee or Omarion: Who Should you Draft? 🤔

• Levi Edwards of Raiders.com says that rookie WR Dont’e Thornton has ‘already become a top target’ of QB Geno Smith’s in camp

  • Another week, another AFC West standout rookie in camp. Last week was TE Oronde Gadsden II of the Chargers, and this week, it’s Raiders WR Dont’e Thornton. Thornton is reportedly already running with the Raiders’ 1s on offense ahead of fellow second-round rookie WR Jack Bech, a notable development considering that Thornton had lower draft capital than Bech. However, his athletic measurables have put him on the map and helped him to stand out in the lead up to the 2025 season, with QB Geno Smith looking his way early and often in practice. Despite all the hype and positive reports coming out of camp, Thornton profiles more as a vertical field stretcher than a consistent target hog, especially in the Raiders offense that already has WR Jakobi Meyers set to work in the short passing game and TE Brock Bowers operating down and across the middle. That target competition could force Thornton to have to make the most of what limited opportunity he does receive this season, which could mean a rollercoaster ride for fantasy managers looking to add him to their squad. It’s worth noting that Geno Smith is the most accurate passer of the football over the past three seasons and ranked within the top-5 for PFF passing grade on deep throws, so that could play directly into Thornton’s explosive nature. But with Bowers and Meyers around to command the majority of the targets in the passing game and Ashton Jeanty spearheading a backfield that’s likely to see 300+ touches easily, there just might not be enough volume to go around to support him as anything more than a boom/bust WR4.

• Giants QB Russell Wilson said that Malik Nabers was the reason he decided to join the Giants this offseason

  • Yes, and so did Jameis Winston… and so did Jaxson Dart. Ok, maybe not Dart, since he didn’t have a say in where he was drafted, but the reality of the situation is that Nabers is locked into at least a few games of Russell Wilson under center. Since signing with the team this past spring, Russell Wilson has enjoyed the full support of the Giants organization in allowing him to have the first crack at starting in the Big Apple. HC Brian Daboll has reiterated time and again Wilson’s status as the starter, and while Wilson won’t even be quite what Jameis Winston would be for Nabers, having him start should still be music to Nabers managers’ ears. After all, he’ll be arguably the best and easily most accomplished QB Nabers will have played with, and despite his shortcomings in terms of mobility and consistency, his deep ball remains as pristine as ever: Wilson ranked 2nd in the NFL in deep passing grade per PFF’s advanced metrics. For context, no Giants quarterback in Nabers’ rookie year (Daniel Jones, Tommy Devito, Tim Boyle, and Drew Lock, for those counting at home) posted a deep passing grade inside the top-40. While Wilson himself is unlikely to be useful as a fantasy quarterback himself outside of a spot start in a pinch here and there, Nabers could find himself on the receiving end of both more and higher quality opportunities downfield in 2025.

What should we expect from the Chargers backfield?

The Chargers are favored in a whopping 13 (!) games for this upcoming season, which obviously favors the run game – and we should expect the volume to be there for both RBs Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris. Now, LA was middle of the pack when it came to running the ball in neutral game scripts, and that deviated from head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s history as coaches, but when you look at what they had in the backfield, they just didn’t have a backfield they could rely on. They had JK Dobbins for 13 games (and even then, he was a little banged up here and there) and Gus Edwards, who had 100 carries himself.

So why not put the ball in Justin Herbert’s hands more? They did, and it made sense - but this year, it seems like they want to go back to their roots. The Chargers signed Najee Harris in free agency to a 1-year deal and they invested heavily in Omarion Hampton in the first round at 22nd overall - they’re now officially built to run the ball, and I do think we see the philosophy reverted a bit.

When we talk about the backfield split, I look at JK Dobbins’ rookie year under John Harbaugh and the same offensive coordinator Greg Roman back in 2019. Dobbins was drafted in the 2nd round (still significant draft capital), he was extremely explosive and averaged 6 yards per carry that year; yet he finished the year with only 134 carries. He didn’t have one game over 15 carries as a rookie. He scored 7 TDs in the final 6 games of the regular season, yet he still didn’t get more than 10 carries in either of their two playoff games that year. He was competing with Gus Edwards that year, as well, and he finished with more carries than him. It was basically a 50/50 split.

I’m a little worried that we’re going to see something similar to that out of this backfield. Greg Roman just said he’s blown away by Najee Harris’ knowledge of the game and movement skills. For dynasty, I’m not overly concerned - I hope they don’t end up re-signing Najee like Roman kept Gus Edwards around, but I think we’re going to see a split here where the current price tag of the RB15 overall for Omarion Hampton is a little high. Joe Mixon, Chuba Hubbard, Kenneth Walker, and Alvin Kamara are all going behind Hampton, and all could get significantly more volume than Hampton this season.

I hate fading talented players; he’s definitely going to have his games without getting a ton of volume, but I think I’m fading at that price. Najee’s an unsexy pick, and I’ve never been a huge Najee guy, but at RB36, he’s a very usable RB around that price among guys like Travis Etienne, Zach Charbonnet, and Javonte Williams… Etienne has more upside, Charbonnet is a handcuff, and Javonte is… Javonte. Not a whole lot of upside for Najee without a Hampton injury, but there’s a world where we’re still looking at 10-15 carries plus a couple of catches per game for him alongside Hampton.