Kimani
Vidal.
Kimani
Vidal.
Troy· 5'8"· 213 lb· 4.46s 40
"Built like a bowling ball and used like a workhorse: Vidal wins with leverage and leg drive, not creativity, and that honesty is exactly why he was worth a sixth-round bet."Pre-draft read
Compact, thick-cut one-cut back who spent four years as Troy's engine, working almost exclusively from single-back gun sets on inside zone, duo and counter. At 5-8, 213 with a low center of gravity, he presses the line square and gets skinny through the crease, and the contact balance is the separator — arm tackles slide off and he falls forward for two extra yards.
The secondary trait is downhill burst: he hits the second level in a straight line and has the speed to finish, but he is a build-up mover, not a jump-cut creator. Reliable as a checkdown and willing in protection, though not a route-tree weapon. The signature is volume durability — 296 carries as a senior with no drop in juice in December.
Gap/duo-based downhill run game with inside zone as a complement; committee backfield that values early-down efficiency over creation.
Year 1: early-down and short-yardage rotational back who also plays third-down protection. Ceiling: 1A in a two-man committee handling 150-180 carries with plus contact balance.
Wide-zone-only offenses that ask the back to press the edge and cut backside on the run — his tight hips and lack of lateral redirect blunt the stretch game.
Best paired with a burner change-of-pace back; he is the hammer, not the whole plan.
Kimani Vidal 2023 Troy Highlights
Senior-year cut-up: 1,662 rushing yards, contact balance and downhill burst on duo and inside zone.
Kimani Vidal 2022 Troy Highlights
Breakout 1,136-yard season showing the leg drive and short-area power that defined his Troy tape.
Kimani Vidal's Best Plays From 137-Yard Game Vs Raiders
2025 breakout NFL performance carrying the Chargers backfield with Omarion Hampton limited.
A short, stout, high-volume runner whose identity is built on leverage and leg drive rather than creativity. Vidal is the rare small back who plays big: he takes on linebackers in the hole, keeps his pads under theirs and turns dead plays into manageable second downs.
Four straight years of production at Troy, capped by a 2023 season of 296 carries for 1,662 yards and 14 touchdowns that earned Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference. The signature tape was against Group of Five fronts stacking the box, where he still ripped off chunk gains on duo. The flags were the ones you would expect: average lateral agility, tight hips, and a body type that historically wears down without elite creation to protect it.
Boards had him in the fifth-to-seventh range as a rotational back with a special-teams path. Taking him at 181 was low-risk value on a proven workload back for a Chargers staff that wanted to run the football, and the Senior Bowl invite plus a 4.46 confirmed the traits were real enough to compete.
- 01
Contact balance
Low center of gravity and constant leg churn let him fall forward through arm tackles and turn stuffed runs into three-yard gains.
- 02
Vision on inside zone
Presses the puller, reads the second-level fit and hits the crease square rather than dancing behind the line.
- 03
Downhill burst
Very good acceleration to and through the line of scrimmage, with the top-end to finish long runs once he clears the safety.
- 04
Workload durability
Handled 296 carries as a senior and 779 for his career without missing meaningful time or losing juice in December.
- 05
Pass-protection willingness
Squares up blitzers and will cut a rusher, showing the toughness and awareness to stay on the field on third down.
- 01
Lateral agility
Lacks the explosive jump cut or hard lateral redirect to make defenders miss in phone booths at the NFL level.
- 02
Hip tightness
Change of direction is average at best; he rounds cuts and can look stiff when asked to bounce plays wide.
- 03
Creation ceiling
Production came behind clean structure; he needs blocking to be right rather than manufacturing yards on broken plays.
- 04
Receiving versatility
Mostly a checkdown and screen option, with a limited route tree and little detached alignment on tape.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.46sp50
- Vertical
- 37.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 120inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.01sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.15sp50
- Bench
- 18repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Att | Yds | TD | Rec | RecYds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Troy | 9 | 0 | 516 | 4 | 26 | 225 |
| 2021 | Troy | 11 | 0 | 701 | 5 | 22 | 134 |
| 2022 | Troy | 14 | 0 | 1136 | 10 | 26 | 141 |
| 2023 | Troy | 14 | 0 | 1662 | 14 | 18 | 201 |
| Career | — | 48 | 0 | 4015 | 33 | 92 | 701 |
Source: College Football Data (CFBD), regular season plus bowl. Four-year Troy career; 2023 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- 2023 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year
- 2023 First-team All-Sun Belt
- 2023 AP All-America (third team)
- 2022 Second-team All-Sun Belt
- 2024 Senior Bowl invitee
Sturdy between-the-tackles runner who cycles through committee roles and produces when handed volume.
Same compact, violent runner archetype who forced his way into lead-back volume off Day 3 capital.
Dependable RB3 who lives on special teams and spot duty without ever locking down a full-time role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Year 1 in 2024 was quiet: he opened behind Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins in Jim Harbaugh's run-first scheme and got 43 carries for 155 yards across 10 games, with a 62-yard receiving line as a change-up. The 2025 season was the real audition. With Omarion Hampton limited by an ankle injury, Vidal took over the workload in the second half of the year, finishing with 155 carries for 643 yards and three touchdowns plus 16 catches in 13 games, including a 126-yard game against the Raiders and a 117-yard game against the Vikings. He carried 11 times in the wild-card loss at New England. Entering 2026, he is the third piece of a Chargers committee alongside Hampton and Keaton Mitchell.
In hindsight, this is what a good sixth-round running back pick looks like. He was never going to be a lead back who creates outside structure, and his efficiency numbers — 4.0 yards per carry through two seasons — reflect that honestly. But he did exactly what the profile promised: hold up under real volume, protect the quarterback, and give the offense a functional runner for a fraction of the cost of a veteran. In a position group where teams routinely burn premium capital, getting three usable seasons out of pick 181 is a clean win.
Data note: Source: College Football Data (CFBD), regular season plus bowl. Four-year Troy career; 2023 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year.