Chargers GM on Austin Ekeler Trade Request: 'We'd Like Him, but No Predictions'

Los Angeles Chargers general manager Tom Telesco understands there is an element of uncertainty about what will happen after the team granted running back Austin Ekeler permission to seek a trade this offseason.

"We'd like him, but no predictions on what happens," Telesco said Monday, per Daniel Popper of The Athletic.

The Ekeler situation was thrown even more into the spotlight when he appeared on the Green Light with Chris Long podcast last week (h/t Safid Deen of USA Today) and said: "I'm so underpaid right now as far as my contract and what I contribute to the team. It's like, I am relentlessly pursuing this."

He is set to make $6.3 million in base salary in 2023, which is the final year of his contract.

As for the Chargers' thinking, Telesco explained he wanted to treat Ekeler with respect in allowing him to look for another destination.

"I want to treat people the way I'd want to be treated," the general manager said. "So in this situation, felt like we'd go down this path."

That doesn't mean a trade is certain, and Los Angeles head coach Brandon Staley told NFL Network's Steve Wyche on Sunday that the team still wants to keep its star running back despite the ongoing situation this offseason.

It isn't surprising the Chargers want to keep him seeing how they have the offensive talent to perhaps make a Super Bowl run with quarterback Justin Herbert spreading the ball around to Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and others.

Having Ekeler's ability to impact the game in multiple ways is a major part of the team's attack, and he finished the 2022 campaign with 915 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground and 107 catches for 722 yards and five scores.

Whether he will be a dual-threat running back in Los Angeles again next season remains to be seen, as not even the general manager knows how the situation will unfold.