Kimani Vidal: Career Stats, 2025 Breakout Season, and 2026 Chargers Outlook

Kimani Vidal – From Troy Underdog to Chargers Starter: Everything That Matters

The Short Version, If That’s All You Need

Kimani Vidal is a 24-year-old running back for the Los Angeles Chargers. Drafted 181st overall in 2024 out of Troy University – a mid-major program in Alabama most NFL scouts weren’t watching closely – he spent his first season as a depth piece and opened 2025 on the practice squad. Then Omarion Hampton hurt his ankle and Najee Harris tore his Achilles, and Vidal stepped in and ran for 643 yards and three touchdowns across 13 regular-season games. The Chargers re-signed him this spring via exclusive-rights tender. He’s the great-nephew of Hank Aaron and the grandson of former U.S. Representative David Scott of Georgia. That family background gets mentioned a lot, but it doesn’t explain what happened in 2025 – that part was just Vidal.

Marietta, Troy, and the Offers He Turned Down

Vidal grew up in Atlanta and played high school ball at Marietta, where he came out as a three-star recruit – not the kind of rating that generates bidding wars. He had offers from LSU, Memphis, South Carolina, and Syracuse, among others. He chose Troy. That decision has since been read as a mistake by some recruiting analysts, and as a chess move by people who watched what happened next.

His freshman season in 2020: 516 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 101 carries, plus 26 catches for 225 yards. Solid, not spectacular. By 2021, he was putting up 162-yard games against Texas State. In 2022, he broke out in a way that made NFL scouts pay attention: 1,132 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns, second-team all-Sun Belt. The two-game stretch in November of that year – 242 yards against Louisiana-Monroe, then 208 yards and four touchdowns against Arkansas State in back-to-back weeks – isn’t the kind of thing you see at any level and dismiss as a schedule artifact.

The 2023 Season That Made Him Draftable

His senior year at Troy was where the real draft argument got built. In the season opener against Stephen F. Austin, Vidal carried 248 yards – a new Troy single-game record. Six weeks later, he went for 245 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas State, the same team he’d carved up the year before. He was named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year and won the MVP award in the conference championship game after becoming the first player in Sun Belt history to rush for five touchdowns in a title game.

The reason he still went in the sixth round isn’t mysterious. Troy isn’t Alabama. The competition ceiling in the Sun Belt is real. But his yards-after-contact numbers and his performance on inside zone concepts transferred cleanly to what NFL teams were looking for in change-of-pace backs – particularly teams running physical, downhill offenses.

College Stats by Year

The NFL Draft, Pick 181, and What Jim Harbaugh Actually Saw

The Chargers selected Vidal in the sixth round of the 2024 draft with the 181st overall pick. At the time, RotoWire noted his combination of size – 5-foot-8, 215 pounds – and a 4.46-second 40-yard dash as more interesting than a typical late-round pick, particularly within the context of a Chargers offense under Jim Harbaugh and then-coordinator Greg Roman that was built around physical running. Harbaugh has a history of using short, powerful backs in zone-based run games. Vidal fit that template.

His NFL debut came on October 13, 2024, in a Chargers win over Denver. On his first official touch, he caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert. Not a bad way to announce yourself as a sixth-rounder. He spent the rest of that season rotating in and out of the lineup, finishing 2024 with modest numbers as the team cycled through a crowded backfield that included Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins.

2025: From Practice Squad to Starter

He was waived on August 26, 2025, as part of final roster cuts, and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. That’s the kind of transaction that usually ends a player’s path to relevance. Then Hampton went down with an ankle injury in early October, and Harris tore his Achilles and was done for the year. Vidal was elevated on October 8 and given the ball.

Week 6 against Miami was the first major statement. He carried 18 times for 124 yards, caught three passes for 14 yards and a touchdown, 138 total yards on 21 touches. There had been reports earlier that week suggesting the Chargers would use a committee with Hassan Haskins. Vidal answered that by outperforming Haskins 138 yards to 23 on the day. Miami’s run defense ranked among the worst in the league, which fair-minded analysts pointed out – but his Week 8 effort against Minnesota (127 yards), and a 137-yard game against Las Vegas in Week 13, came against defenses that weren’t soft spots on the schedule.

Best Single-Game Performances, 2025 Regular Season

He finished the regular season with 155 carries for 643 yards – 4.1 yards per carry – and three rushing touchdowns. Add 16 catches for 136 yards and a receiving score, and his full line was 779 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns across 13 games, 10 of which he started. PFF graded him at 74.5 overall (23rd among 55 qualifying halfbacks), with a 77.3 rushing grade and a 61.3 receiving grade. The rushing grade is solid. The receiving grade tells you what his limitations are.

The playoff game against New England in the wild card round is worth noting, not for what he did but for how it ended: he got the surprise start despite Hampton being technically available, carried 11 times for 31 yards in a 16-3 loss, and the Chargers were eliminated. Hampton appeared to have re-aggravated his ankle, which explained the start, but Vidal couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity the way he had in the regular season.

What Kind of Runner He Actually Is

At 5-foot-8 and 215 pounds with a 4.46 40, Vidal sits in a physical profile that NFL teams describe as a “compact power back” – which is the polite way of saying he wins with contact rather than around it. His PFF rushing grade of 77.3 in 2025 is built on inside zone work, decisive reads in tight windows, and above-average yards after first contact. He doesn’t have the burst to beat cornerbacks to the edge on designed sweeps. His 59-yard touchdown run against the Raiders in Week 13 is the counterexample to that – he took a pitch left and outran a linebacker to the sideline – but that play is the outlier, not the model.

The receiving grade of 61.3 is the honest limitation. He’s functional on check-down routes and flats, and he can win on screens when the blocking is in front of him. What he can’t do consistently is create separation on angle routes or contribute meaningfully in pass protection against edge rushers. New offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, who came over from Miami ahead of 2026, historically has used multiple backs in distinct roles – and Vidal’s profile suggests he’s the runner in that split, not the receiver.

The 2026 Depth Chart and What’s Actually at Stake

Omarion Hampton is the Chargers’ RB1 going into 2026. That’s not a projection – it’s the clearest thing on the depth chart. He was a first-round pick in 2025, he’s healthy entering training camp, and the Chargers built their running game around him long-term. Najee Harris is gone, his Achilles likely ending his time in Los Angeles.

The new variable is Keaton Mitchell, signed from Baltimore on a two-year deal this offseason. Mitchell is a pass-catching back – 4.33 speed, receiving production in his Ravens years – which means he profiles as exactly the player who could take the role Vidal can’t fill. RotoBaller’s assessment is that Mitchell may have the edge on Vidal for the RB2 job specifically because of receiving reps. That’s probably right. Where it gets messier: CBS Sports noted that Vidal “has to be considered the favorite for the job” given his 2025 production, even if Mitchell ultimately sees more pass-catching reps. Those two assessments don’t fully contradict each other – they describe a split role – but they can’t both be right if the question is who gets the most total touches.

What Vidal has going for him in this competition is the injury insurance argument. Hampton went to IR twice in two seasons. If he goes down again in 2026, Vidal’s 2025 body of work is proof he can handle a starting workload. The Chargers kept him for a reason, and an ERFA tender costing under $1 million is a cheap way to hold that insurance.

Fantasy Football: Where He Actually Fits

In redraft formats, Vidal is a handcuff, full stop. If you own Hampton, Vidal is worth a late-round pick in most 12-team leagues – but only if you’re also rostering Hampton. As a standalone play, his upside is too dependent on someone else getting hurt.

PPR leagues are tougher for him specifically because of that 61.3 receiving grade. His 2025 receiving line was 16 catches for 136 yards in 13 games – under 10 receiving yards per game. Even in an injury-starter role, he won’t be a PPR difference-maker. The week he went for 138 total yards against Miami, three of those receptions were designed short-area targets, not routes he won in coverage. Fantasy managers in PPR leagues who started him for his total yards that week and expected it to become a floor will recognize the problem.

Dynasty is where the honest assessment gets uncomfortable. His 2025 season was good. It was also the product of the most favorable circumstances a backup running back can get: two starters hurt, a system that fits his skill set, and a schedule that included Miami’s weak run defense in his first major opportunity. Hampton is younger, healthier now, and the clear long-term plan in Los Angeles. Mitchell adds a new dimension the Chargers didn’t have. Vidal’s dynasty value is fading – not because he’s a bad player, but because his ceiling in this specific situation is defined by other people’s health.

Hank Aaron’s Great-Nephew and the Family Nobody Expected to Produce an NFL Running Back

Vidal’s grandmother Alfredia is the sister of Henry “Hank” Aaron – the Hall of Fame outfielder who spent most of his career with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and finished with 755 home runs, a record that stood for 33 years. That makes Vidal Aaron’s great-nephew. His grandfather is David Scott, a Democratic congressman who has represented Georgia’s 13th congressional district since 2003. His sister Kaylin handles his business interests through their shared management arrangement.

The Aaron connection gets brought up in nearly every feature written about Vidal, including a segment on NFL Network’s The Insiders ahead of his Week 9 game in 2025. What’s actually interesting about it isn’t the name recognition – it’s the athletic lineage. Aaron was not a large man by baseball standards: 6-foot, 180 pounds, built on bat speed and wrist strength rather than brute force. Vidal, at 5-foot-8 and 215 pounds, is physically almost the inverse. The family produces athletes, apparently, just not the same kind.

Physical Profile and Draft Combine Metrics

Career NFL Stats

He enters 2026 with 198 career rushing attempts for 816 yards, four rushing touchdowns, 25 receptions for 214 yards, and two receiving touchdowns across 23 regular-season games. Small sample, promising trend, uncertain role – that’s the honest summary of where he stands going into his third NFL season.