3 Chargers on the roster that may not make it to the 2023 season in LA

1. Austin Ekeler

This one is painful for Chargers fans but it is also the reality of the situation. Austin Ekeler was granted permission to seek out a trade from the LA Chargers as he feels underpaid and wants to work out a new extension that pays him market value.

While Ekeler has been one of the elite running backs in the game and there are other backs making more money, that is no longer the running back market. The spending in free agency this year proved it and at his age, Ekeler likely is not going to get the kind of "market" extension that he wants.

That seemingly points to him returning to the Chargers but who knows how that relationship is fairing. Ekeler took to Instagram to explain what team he wanted to play for next season and it did not sound like someone who was particularly excited about coming back to the Chargers next season if he had to.

The Chargers and Ekeler have a lot of time to work this out and while it is unfortunate for Ekeler, fans also cannot blame the Chargers for wanting to pay someone over market value at a position that ages horribly in the NFL. You definitely cannot blame them if they can go and get someone like Bijan Robinson in the 2023 NFL Draft to instantly replace Ekeler on offense.

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This is the giant elephant in the room surrounding the Chargers this offseason and with how things have gone thus far, it seems more likely that Ekeler is on another team in 2023.