Austin Ekeler remains with Chargers and reportedly agrees to a restructured deal

Austin Ekeler will remain in Los Angeles for the final season of his contract.

The running back agreed to a restructured deal with the Chargers for the 2023 season that adds $1.75 million in incentives, ESPN reported Tuesday. Ekeler, who turned 28 on May 17, enters the final year of a four-year, $24.5 million deal he signed in 2020, making him a free agent at the end of the season. He was originally slated to have a $6.25 million salary for the 2023 season.

Ekeler approached the Chargers earlier in the offseason about a potential extension. Both sides failed to come to an agreement, so when the new league year began in March, the Chargers gave Ekeler permission to talk to other teams about a possible trade.

About a month after Ekeler began his search for a possible new home, he shared how he felt disrespected by the Chargers.

“I kind of got a slap in the face when the Chargers actually said we don’t want to talk about overtime anymore,” Ekeler said in an interview with SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. “This is an organization that I keep rising and reaching new heights in. That’s what it felt like. It felt like, wow, this was the first time in my career with them that I felt disrespected by my own organization. It sucks . I want to be a Charger. I want to be there and it sucks because it’s like, let’s get something done.”

Ekeler also said at the time that the “worst case scenario” for him would be that he would still be on the Chargers roster at the start of the 2023 season.

Ekeler was not present when the Chargers began the OTAs on Monday, but coach Brandon Staley expected the running back to return to the team for the mandatory June mini-camp.

“The current state of things with Austin is he’s been one of the top fullbacks in the league for the past two seasons,” Staley told reporters. “He’s been a captain for us. We really have the utmost respect for him and the situation. It’s been respectful on both sides. I’m looking forward to this spring. We’ll give you updates, if there are any.”

The Chargers added Ekeler as an undrafted free agent in 2017, and since Melvin Gordon’s departure in 2020, Ekeler has proven to be one of the game’s top dual-threat backs. He rushed for 915 yards and a league-high 13 touchdowns to go along with 107 receptions (the most for a running back) for 722 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns last season. He totaled 1,558 yards and 20 combined touchdowns in 2021.

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