Kimani Vidal

Vidal ran 25 of the Chargers' 31 carries vs Pittsburgh in 2025 — an 80.6% team rush share.

In Week 10 vs Pittsburgh, the Chargers ran the ball 31 times — and Kimani Vidal handled 25 of those carries (80.6%). That is an overwhelming commitment to one back: in 2025, the league average rush-share for a team's lead back was roughly 55-60%.

Across all three of his 20+ carry games, Vidal scored a TD each time and was given the dominant role. The 80.6% figure vs Pittsburgh stands out as the single-back usage most teams reserve only for a franchise workhorse.

Why it matters. An 80.6% team rush-share is rare even for established lead backs; it signals the coaching staff had full confidence in Vidal as the lone option in a run-first game plan — not the norm for a 6th-round player in his second season.

Three 100-yard games in 2025 — including a 25-carry, 126-yard, 1-TD outing vs the Raiders.

Vidal's three 100-yard games in 2025 all came in a span of eight weeks (Weeks 6-13) when LA leaned hardest on the run game. The peak was Week 13 vs the Raiders — 25 carries, 126 yards, a TD — his career-best workload.

In his entire rookie year, his best single-game rushing total was 34 yards (8 carries vs Kansas City, Week 14). Three months into Year 2 he had three 100-yard games.

Why it matters. Three 100-yard games is a meaningful volume marker for a 6th-round pick who spent his rookie year averaging 4.8 carries per game — it reflects a genuine role change, not a fluke carry count, because all three came in separate multi-week stretches of heavy usage.

49.5 rushing yards per game in 2025 — when used, he's a real lead back.

The volume tells two different stories. As a rookie, Vidal averaged just 4.8 carries per game — pure rotation depth. In 2025, he's at 11.9 carries and 49.5 yards per game, the workload of a clear committee starter.

The YPC improved from 3.60 to 4.15 with that larger sample — a meaningful efficiency step-up that accompanied the role upgrade, not just the extra volume.

Why it matters. A 2.5× carry-per-game increase alongside a genuine YPC improvement (3.60→4.15) is the combination that distinguishes a role change from a simple opportunity grab — Vidal got more touches AND ran more efficiently, which is uncommon for a back stepping into a lead role mid-season.

60-yard reception vs Philadelphia in Week 14 — Vidal's longest play from scrimmage by a wide margin.

Vidal's pass-game usage is light — 21 receptions for 198 yards across 22 regular-season games — but the one big play stands out: a 60-yard reception against Philadelphia in Week 14 of 2025.

That single catch accounts for 30% of his entire career regular-season receiving yardage. The next-best game was 40 yards (DEN, 2024). The pattern: 1-3 short check-downs per game, with one screen-pass home run hiding in the mix.

Why it matters. A 60-yard catch representing 30% of a back's entire career receiving production in 22 games shows how lopsided Vidal's receiving profile is — he's almost purely a check-down target who happened to break one free, which makes his pass-game upside unpredictable and context-dependent.

Three of Vidal's biggest games came when his carries cracked 20 — and all three produced rushing TDs.

When Vidal gets 20+ carries in a game, the result has been perfectly consistent: 3-for-3 on rushing TDs, with yardage totals of 95, 117, and 126.

When he's at 15 carries or fewer, his ceiling drops — his best sub-15 carry game in 2025 was 44 rushing yards (Week 14 vs PHI). The split is binary: when the gameplan commits to Vidal, he delivers a score. When it doesn't fully trust him, the ceiling disappears.

For a 6th-round rookie in his second season, that's an unusually clean predictor.

Why it matters. A perfect TD rate (3/3) in high-volume games signals that Vidal elevates in short-yardage and goal-line situations precisely when given the bulk workload — not a coincidence of opponent quality, since PIT, MIN, and LV all ranked as solid run defenses in 2025.

31 rushing yards on 11 carries in his first playoff game — Vidal got the start in LA's wild card loss.

Vidal got the playoff start in the Chargers' Wild Card matchup vs New England — 11 carries for 31 yards, plus 2 receptions for 20. The volume was real (13 touches), but the 2.8 YPC showed how quickly playoff defenses tightened against him.

That one playoff game is enough to give him a starting role on the resume going into 2026. The path from 9-game rookie to playoff starter in 16 months is the Vidal story.

Why it matters. Getting a playoff start as a second-year 6th-round pick — especially after zero postseason appearances in year one — is the fastest meaningful resume upgrade an RB can add; it confirms the coaching staff's confidence in Vidal as a real contributor, not just a depth piece.