LA Chargers injury news: Washington could be without huge offensive contributor

The 2021 NFL season is back and with just three days remaining until the LA Chargers Week 1 showdown against the Washington Football Team, the Chargers injury news is starting to trickle out.

Injury updates are the worst time of the week for Chargers fans as we have been groomed to expect the worst nearly every week. While most of the attention has been on Bryan Bulaga's hip injury, a massive Charger did not participate in practice on Wednesday.

Austin Ekeler was held out of action with a hamstring issue. This could be a big deal considering he hurt his hamstring last season. However, as we have seen all preseason, this training staff is extremely cautious and it could be them just keeping Ekeler fresh.

Ekeler even tweeted that he was four days away from starting the season on Wednesday, so it is still a bit too soon to panic.

The Washington Football team is missing a huge offensive contributor as well, which could make the LA Chargers' defensive efforts a bit easier on Sunday at FedExField.

LA Chargers injury news: Curtis Samuel has not participated in practice all week

Curtis Samuel was a full DNP on Wednesday, as was Ekeler, and with Washington's practice reports coming out earlier we can now confirm that Samuel also did not participate on Thursday as he is dealing with a groin injury.

Washington head coach Ron Rivera said after Wednesday's practice that it does not bode well for Samuel to play in Week 1. Samuel was dealing with the groin issue over the offseason and it flared up again in practice.

Not having to face Samuel is going to make the defensive efforts easier for the LA Chargers. Terry McLaurin is still a very tough receiver to stop but the Bolts can now focus more resources on containing him.

He is going to be the main target for Ryan Fitzpatrick and quite frankly, a dozen targets might be the floor for McLaurin. Michael Davis will likely line up against McLaurin for most of the game and it would not be shocking if Staley sends help with one of the safeties to double him on deep routes.

The Chargers can do this because the rest of the weapons in that offense are not great. Antonio Gibson is an exciting young back that has to be respected but Charger fans should feel confident in the matchup between him and the linebackers.

Logan Thomas is a talented young tight end with upside but he is far from being a top-10 tight end. The next-best receivers are Adam Humphries, who isn't anything special, and rookie Dyami Brown.

Brown has potential and he should one day be a solid offensive contributor. In his first career NFL game? Probably not.