5 Chargers Free Agents Most Likely to Walk This Offseason

The Los Angeles Chargers will start anew this offseason with Jim Harbaugh and hand-picked GM Joe Hortiz now calling the shots. They'll be tasked with building this squad into a contender again, but that begins with cutting some of the ties to the past regime.

There's several players who suited up for the team this past season that don't seem to be likely to stick around and could pursue different opportunities on their own.

With that in mind, here are a few Chargers free agents that may walk away from LA this offseason.

1. Austin Ekeler

One Charger who seems more than ready to leave the team is running back Austin Ekeler.

As the 2023 campaign concluded, Ekeler didn't hesitate to express his frustrations with how things went. He made it clear he's going to weigh all options and be "real selective" on where he plays in 2024.

The writing appears to be on the wall here. While he did partially walk his comments back, and Harbaugh even noted the organization would be happy to see Ekeler return, signing up for another go-around doesn't make sense for anyone.

From Ekeler's perspective, he was ready to move on when Los Angeles didn't want to pay him a big-money extension last offseason. Now he's coming off of a year where he wasn't utilized as much as before, and his numbers suffered.

Re-signing would mean taking a risk for Ekeler, who'd be joining a team with entirely new decision-makers at the helm. There's no telling if Ekeler would fit the system Harbaugh wants to employ in his NFL comeback, and it's likely the reigning National Champion will want to draft an RB this year who could lead this backfield for years to come.

Ekeler is much more suited for a contender, instead of a rebuilding squad, at this stage in his career as a productive veteran. So it'd be no surprise if pursues a different home for 2024.