The bulk of free agency, along with the draft, has now come and gone. Most major roster-building moves have thus been made for 2023, but the future of Chargers running back Austin Ekeler remains unresolved. 
Ekeler was given permission to seek a trade in March after extension talks failed to yield much in the way of progress. The 27-year-old has one year remaining on his current contract, and is due $6.25MM – a figure much lower than that of the other top backs in the league. After a second straight season in which he led the league in scrimmage touchdowns and eclipsed 1,500 total yards, Ekeler’s desire for a raise has been weighed against the underwhelming market direction his position has been headed in.
Given the overall devaluation of running backs – at least in 2023’s free agency period, if not the first round of this year’s draft – it comes as little surprise that a strong trade market for Ekeler has yet to take shape. Given the lack of willingness on other teams’ parts to move assets in acquiring him before making a signficant, multi-year financial commitment, the former UDFA acknowledged the possibility of playing out his contract year in Los Angeles. The chances of that taking place are increased by the Chargers’ lack of a desire to move him.
“Nothing’s changed,” general manager Tom Telesco said about Ekeler’s standing trade request during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show (video link). “His situation is unique. I completely understand that, which is why we kind of allowed them to kind of look and see if there was something out there available. We had no intent, no interest of trading him, but, fully knowing his situation, said go ahead and do it.”
The Chargers have a number of young options on their RB depth chart, but none with the track record of two-way production Ekeler has established over the past few years in particular. Los Angeles did not draft a running back, further pointing to their intention of keeping Ekeler in the fold for the 2023 campaign, one in which the team’s offense in particular will face considerable expectations. If he can deliver another strong performance, he will boost his free agent value, but that route appears to be the only one in which he could land in a new NFL home next offseason.
I feel for Ekeler, he plays a brutal position with a short career and has been exceptional, however I also would be absolutely furious if my team paid an RB a top 5 contract or drafted one in the 1st or possibly even 2nd round, he’s in a really tough spot, forced to play for >60% of what he’s worth but he goes and blows an Achilles and it’s over for him
He has always thought that he is better than he is. He was a way better runner when he was Gordon’s backup. No doubt he scores a lot of td’s and catches a lot of passes. As a runnner, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen him get stopped on third and short or fourth and short situations.
He’s never ran 20 times in a game in his whole career, he’s not a bell cow RB. Le’Veon Bell lite – and Bell was 100x the runner of Ekeler. We all saw how that ended for Lev Bell
Agree 100%
His skill set doesn’t include being that short yardage guy… if that’s how they’re using him… that’s not his fault. Offensive coordinators job is to our players in a position to succeed. Blaming him for failing him in that role didn’t make sense to me.
Seems to me he’s grossly underpaid… I think he’d be an asset in any team’s backfield.
I mostly agree, and he is an asset but to give him as much money as he wants would be a mistake. There are quite a few better rbs out there that can do more than him. He is a little limited.
Dalvin Cook for Austin Ekeler with swapping draft picks somewhere in there seems to work for both teams without compromising their competitive aspirations.
I think Ekeler pairs better with Mattison in O’Connell’s offense.
Some restructuring of contracts probably needs to happen on the chargers side
In interviews he comes across as about the nicest guy ever. He does plenty of charity work.
I hope it all works out for him, but see the challenges.
Seems odd that teams/players who can’t find common ground with each other on a long term contract don’t explore a way to sweeten the *current* deal in order to refresh the air in the room a little. For instance the Chargers could probably add a couple million to Ekeler’s current year paycheck – which might make him both more productive this year and more receptive to accepting the NEXT contract offer.
The fact that he only touched the ball 15 times in the Jacksonville playoff game debacle, is a complete disgrace.
This guy is like the late Marion barber. He runs hard. I would love him on the bengals. He scores a lot because he is on the 1 yards line. But getting there…omg he has a head as hard as a dinosaur it seems.
You are wrong. He does not score his td’s from the one yard line. If he does,it’s on passes off of play action.