The Los Angeles Chargers are currently without running back Austin Ekeler due to an ankle injury he sustained during the season opener against Miami. While there was speculation that he could be placed on injured reserve, which would have kept him out for at least four weeks, the team decided against it. However, Ekeler will miss his second consecutive game this week and coach Brandon Staley has hinted that he may miss more before returning to the field.
“He’s working hard to get back,” Staley said. “We’ll see how it goes here in the next few weeks.”
Despite missing two games already, Ekeler remains optimistic about his recovery and described it as a “day-to-day, week-to-week situation” on his “Ekeler’s Edge” podcast on the Yahoo Fantasy Football Show.
“You’ve just got to get it to a point where you feel good, where it’s taped up and you can actually feel like, ‘If I get tackled, it’s not going to be re-aggravated and set me back to where I was before, where I could barely walk on it,'” Ekeler said.
“It’s not something that’s going to be like, ‘Ah, he’s out for several months’ type of thing. It’s a day-to-day, week-to-week situation. I like the progress that I’ve made so far. Hopefully back sooner than later.”
There’s no setback in Ekeler’s recovery
Staley also addressed rumors that Ekeler may have suffered a setback in his recovery, stating that there was “no implication” of that.
Ekeler, who rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries in the season opener, has only missed nine games in his first six seasons and had not missed a game since 2021 before his current injury.
While the Chargers will undoubtedly miss Ekeler’s contributions on the field, they do have other options at running back. Justin Jackson and Joshua Kelley are both capable of stepping up in Ekeler’s absence.