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Kris Rhim, ESPN
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Chargers running back Austin Ekeler said Tuesday there is a “99% chance” he will play in his team’s Week 6 game against the Cowboys on Monday night.
Monday’s game would be Ekeler’s first back since he suffered a high right ankle sprain in the Chargers’ Week 1 loss to the Dolphins. With no official team injury report on Tuesday, Ekeler told reporters he was a full participant in practice, and he went through it without the ankle brace he had been sporting on his right ankle.
Ekeler caught passes, made juke moves, and ran at full speed during the period of practice open to the media. He began working off to the side with running backs coach Derrick Foster before joining the rest of the running back group in individual drills.
In Week 4, Ekeler returned to practice for the first time since the injury. He said that if Week 4 was the Chargers’ final game of the season, and they needed him to play, he could have, but using the Week 5 bye week to recover made the most sense.
“I feel good. I feel really good. I felt like I probably could’ve played during the bye week if I had a game then,” Ekeler said. “… It’s taken a little to get back just to being around football, reactive stuff, things like that. But it’s something that we’ll work into this week and be ready to go.”
Typically, Ekler said, early bye weeks like the one the Chargers had aren’t seen as positives because of the long stretch of games without breaks, but for him and the team, which has injuries to many of its stars, the week off came at the perfect time.
“It wasn’t necessarily that I was pushing it, but just continuing to keep maintenance on it,” Ekeler said of his ankle recovery during the bye week. “Even if you are healthy, you want to continue to move during the bye week. So, it was one of those scenarios where ‘OK, let’s get out there, let’s run.’ [I] did a couple of workouts during the bye week, felt good, and as a result, was back there on the field today.”
In Week 1, the Chargers rushed for 233 yards, anchored by 117 from Ekeler, the team’s highest rushing total since last year’s season-opening game against the Browns. Since then, the Chargers’ rushing game hasn’t been as effective, with no rusher eclipsing over 100 yards. Though in the Week 4 victory over the Raiders, the team amassed 155 yards on the ground after just 91 combined over Weeks 2 and 3.
Ekeler’s return will also be valuable for the Chargers passing offense. Last season, Ekeler led the team in targets (127) and receptions (107), and with receiver Mike Williams out with a season-ending ACL tear, the Chargers will need reliable pass catchers; Ekeler gives them one.
Still, Ekeler’s return only removes one Charger from the team’s lengthy list of injuries. On Monday, quarterback Justin Herbert, who fractured the middle finger on his left non-throwing hand in the Week 4 win over the Raiders, practiced with a glove on the injured hand.
Tight end Donald Parham Jr., who left the Raiders game early with a wrist injury, wore a brace on his right hand but went through drills and caught passes without much issue. Edge rusher Joey Bosa (hamstring/toe) didn’t practice on Tuesday and hasn’t since ahead of the Chargers’ Week 3 game against the Minnesota Vikings.