Free agency is a great place for NFL players to sign contracts that pay them their fair share. It is also a place where careers go to die with many free agents searching for a new contract that never comes. Naturally, that will be the reality for several Chargers free agents.
It's usually easy to predict who will retire as this is a young man's game. But not everyone retires when they want to. Sometimes, the league simply pushes a player out with there being no interest from any of the 32 NFL teams.
With how free agency has gone thus far, there are four Chargers free agents who may suffer that exact fate this offseason.
Chargers free agents who may be forced into early retirement:
QB Easton Stick
Easton Stick made quite a career out of never being the true backup quarterback for the LA Chargers. The only year in which Stick served as the true backup was 2023, and of course, Justin Herbert broke his finger and Stick needed to step up.
The results were not great and they got even worse the following preseason. The new Chargers regime decided to bring Stick back for the 2024 season despite his 2023 struggles only for him to turn in an absolute stinker in the preseason. As a result, the Chargers were forced to trade for backup quarterback help in Taylor Heinicke.
The Chargers have re-signed Heinicke and it is hard to see Stick's path back to the Chargers, let alone an NFL roster. Stick struggled mightily for the one team that had any reason to keep him around.
Any other team that needs backup quarterback help with either turn to veterans with actual starting experience or draft picks that can be controlled for four seasons. Stick doesn't check either box.
RB Gus Edwards
In any other offseason, Gus Edwards would sign with a team as an RB3 who probably would get cut before the season only to re-sign with the practice squad. At the very least, that would not end his NFL career.
This offseason is different, though. The 2025 NFL Draft boasts one of the deepest running back classes in recent history and that is hurting the market for depth backs like Edwards. Any team that needs running back help is going to turn to a younger option in the draft.
It doesn't help that Edwards is now on the wrong side of 30 and is coming off a season where he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry. The Chargers were a life raft for him because of the front office's ties to Baltimore. With the Chargers essentially giving up on him, the entire league may as well.
EDGE Chris Rumph II
The 2021 fourth-round pick simply could not stay healthy and has had virtually no interest in free agency thus far. Chris Rumph did not live up to the (probably unfair) expectations placed on him as a fourth-round pick as his NFL career may last just four years.
If Rumph had more tape to showcase then there may be a team willing to take a chance on his upside but there is nothing out there. Rumph hardly played for the Chargers, missed the entire 2024 season, and does not have first-round priors to save him.
Rumph wouldn't be the only member of the Chargers' 2021 draft class to suffer an early exit from the NFL. As absurd as it sounds this early in his NFL career, it certainly is possible.
S Marcus Maye
The Chargers were forced to get creative at safety with the position getting decimated by injuries in 2024. As a result, veteran Marcus Maye played four games and even came away with a consequential interception against the Atlanta Falcons.
Unfortunately, Maye suffered an ankle injury and missed the rest of the season on IR. The 32-year-old safety is now coming off a season in which he was not only saved by a desperate Chargers team, but suffered an injury that will hurt his stock.
It is not a surprise that Maye remains unsigned and that may bleed into the 2025 season. At this point, Maye is just injury insurance for any team that may need a safety. If any team was interested in him being on the active roster he would already be signed.