The Athletic’s Daniel Popper believes Kimani Vidal was “overmatched in pass protection” in 2024.

08 April 2025

“Vidal played a season-high 35 offensive snaps against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15,” Popper writes. “He gave up four pressures. His head was swimming trying to process coach Todd Bowles’ blitz packages. When Vidal was in position, he did not have the physicality to handle the Tampa linebackers.” That’s a pretty stark assessment of Vidal’s odds of being more than a change-of-pace back to Najee Harris going forward. Popper believes the Chargers should be looking to add at running back in the draft. None of this is to say that Vidal can’t take a step forward in 2025, but it doesn’t look like we should enter training camp expecting him to have a huge role in the LA offense even before we see if they add a back in the draft.