Chargers News: Ex-LA Star Breaks Down Free Agent Departure This Offseason

Why this former Charger left the team.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Former Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler departed for the Washington Commanders this offseason after spending his entire career prior with the Bolts.

Ekeler credited the new Chargers regime, led by Joe Hortiz, Jim Harbaugh, and Greg Roman, going in a different direction with the run game as the reason he left to find another team. For Ekeler, the new Chargers approach to the rushing attack was not going to mesh with what he does best as a back.

"You can see how they've been building the team so far this offseason," Ekeler told Kay Adams on the Up & Adams Show. "They went out and drafted a tackle first round, brought in some bigger backs over from Baltimore. They wanted a guy to hand the ball off to 300 times a year. I haven't had the capacity to do that, that's not my game. That's not how Austin Ekeler's going to be the best on the field. There was a misalignment there, no harm no foul. I'm going to find somewhere else where I can add value."

New @Commanders RB @AustinEkeler on why he and the #Chargers ultimately ended up parting ways...

"They wanted a guy to hand the ball off to 300 times a year... that's not my game. There was a misalignment there, no harm no foul."@heykayadams pic.twitter.com/9KBd1Lmpr5

— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) June 17, 2024

The Chargers are definitely taking a more traditional approach to their run game, building a big offensive line. This differs from Ekeler, who excelled as a pass-catching back. As Ekeler told Adams, he is not someone who carries the ball 300 times, his career-high in a season is 206 carries.

Still, none of the Chargers' current backs have rushed for nearly 300 carries in a season to this point. Gus Edwards' career-high in carries is 198. J.K. Dobbins meanwhile has a career-high of 134 carries, and that was back in 2020 before he dealt with a few serious injuries. It's true that this run game likely wasn't the best fit for Ekeler, but it appears more likely that the Chargers will rely on their backs splitting carries rather than one true workhorse rushing for 300+ carries.

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