Back in the day, Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson made Drew Brees and Philip Rivers better quarterbacks. Tomlinson had eight consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and averaged 17.6 touchdowns per season in those eight seasons.
Every season since 2008, Tomlinson’s next-to-last season with the Chargers, the team has finished outside the top 10 in rushing yards per game.
New Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman wants to go back to the future.
“Can you imagine Justin Herbert with a great running game?” Roman said Thursday, via Kris Rhim of ESPN. “We don’t know, but I can imagine what it might look like. So that’s kind of the vision.”
In 2023, the Chargers finished 24th in rushing as running back Austin Ekeler averaged the fewest yards per game (3.5) of his career.
“I think in this league, you can really, really help dictate the defenses if you have a strong running attack,” Roman said. “If you really talk to most defensive coordinators in this league and got them off to the side when they’re playing a really good running team, they’re sweating a little bit. They’re sleeping a little less that week.”
Roman’s offenses are built around the run.
In Roman’s four seasons with the Ravens — and with Lamar Jackson at quarterback — Baltimore averaged a league-best 175.2 rushing yards per game. With Roman in San Francisco with Jim Harbaugh from 2011-14, the 49ers — with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback — averaged 139.3 rushing yards per game.
But Herbert has never rushed for more than 302 yards in a season and has only 911 in his four seasons combined.
“It’s going to be a little different [with Herbert rather than Jackson or Kaepernick],” Roman said. “I think you’re going to see probably a multiple running game. You’ll probably see the use of motions and shifting, and then you’ll see a pretty diverse passing game.
“Right now, everybody’s got a blank slate of who we can be or what we can do. Could be anything right now, our principles and whatnot of what we do offensively won’t change, but how they come to life on the field will.”
