Will Najee Harris Play in Week 1? Fantasy Football Injury Update (2025)

August 26, 2025

Will Najee Harris play for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025? Will Najee Harris be healthy enough to play in Week 1? Zach breaks down the latest Najee Harris injury news for fantasy football.

Los Angeles Chargers running back Najee Harris (eye) suffered an eye injury in a fireworks accident on the weekend of July 4th over the offseason. While there is still a lack of clarity on exactly what the injury is or the severity of the issue, it has kept him on the sideline for most of training camp and kept him out of the entire preseason.

Harris is on the Chargers' roster going into the season, but there has been uncertainty around whether he will begin the season on the reserve/non-football injury list, which would require him to miss four games. His ongoing recovery has created additional confusion for fantasy football managers.

Will Harris be healthy before the season begins? Could he even play in Week 1 against the Chiefs? Let's take a look at the latest updates on Harris's status.

Will Harris Play This Season?

The Chargers have been very careful with their wording around Harris's potential debut for the Bolts after signing as a free agent from the Steelers. In a pro-level example of "coach speak," Coach Jim Harbaugh said, "When Najee is ready to play, Najee will be ready to play.” Thanks, coach.

Harris has been able to do some running off to the side of Chargers practices and participated in football drills for the last couple of weeks. Both Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz continue to maintain there's a chance he plays in Week 1, but he remains on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list at this point. If he remains on that list through the 4:00 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday, August 26, then Harris would miss the first four games of the season.

Throughout his four-year NFL career, Harris hasn't missed a single game, so we know he's extremely durable, but this injury definitely is the most serious issue he has had to deal with.

Given his progress in the 10 weeks since the injury, it seems likely that even if he does miss time, he will be able to play at some point this season.

Will Najee Harris Play In Week 1?

In the Chargers' final preseason game, GM Joe Hortiz gave a positive update on Harris:

Chargers GM Joe Hortiz said RB Najee Harris is feeling “great” and could play in their regular-season opener vs. the Chiefs, via @krisrhim1:https://t.co/cG4iimOoNd

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 24, 2025

While the team has been careful to leave the door open for his return in Week 1, Tuesday's deadline looms large. If he is activated from the Reserve/NFI list, he'll have a chance to play, but if no move is made, he'll be ineligible for the first four weeks of the season, much like the Joe Mixon (foot/ankle) situation in Houston.

Since Harris hasn't been able to return to full practices with the Chargers yet, it seems to be a long shot that he'd be ready for Week 1, and even if he is, he'll likely have a severely limited role.

Najee Harris 2025 Fantasy Outlook

In Harbaugh's run-heavy scheme, Harris has the potential to bring great value when he's healthy and available. He has run for over 1,000 yards in each of his four NFL seasons in Pittsburgh, scoring an average of seven rushing touchdowns per season and adding six career receiving touchdowns.

Whenever Harris returns, he'll likely be in a backfield timeshare with promising rookie Omarion Hampton and possibly Hassan Haskins, Kimani Vidal, or Nyheim Miller-Hines. Even in a timeshare, though, Harris has enough potential to be fantasy relevant in the Chargers' run-heavy system that made both Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins fantasy names to know last year.

Right now, Harris is the RB58 in RotoBaller's rankings and has an ADP well over RB40. If you feel good about your top running back selections, especially early in the season, and can add Harris as a depth pickup for down the road when he's healthy, he does bring good late-round value. Even if he does miss the first four weeks of the season, he could be a decent IR stash to enter the year with, since he does have so much potential in this landing spot if he gets playing time later in the year.

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