Austin Ekeler and An Update On The Chargers RB Room

Not a great day hearing those pieces of news–our perennial touchdown machine in Austin Ekeler and one of the two head of our tight end group in Parham. We fixed the chicken parm situation and locked him in for the 2023 season, but have yet to finish the job with our number one running back.

We all love Austin Ekeler for what he does for our team on the field, off and in the locker room, but lets also take a look at the business side of things and see maybe why this crossroads occurred and if its fixable or financially viable to try to fix.

Let’s start with the top free agents that got offers with their former team or decided to go somewhere else. We will compare production of these running backs and their contracts to Ekeler’s.

Sanders, Montgomery and Williams.

The three top running backs going into this off-season. Something important to note is that none of these top free agents were retained by their original team. Sanders to Carolina, Montgomery to Detroit and Williams to New Orleans. Money-wise, the top spot in Sanders going to Carolina on a four year, 25-million-dollar deal. That adds up to 6.25 million a year, which is lower than Ekeler’s current contract and let’s not forget Sanders went with his team to the Superbowl this last offseason.

David Montgomery, originally on the Chicago bears, was looking for a contract of around 10 million a year. Insider sources say the bears weren’t willing to even offer Montgomery any guaranteed money after year one, let alone match a price tag like 10 million a year. Montgomery decided to take his talents elsewhere to the Detroit Lions, who offered David a three year 18-million-dollar deal. $4.5 million at signing and 11-million guaranteed, with an average annual salary of 6 million, which is lower than what Ekeler’s current contract is.

Then we have Jamaal Williams. He was offered something very similar to what David Montgomery ended up signing for in Detroit. Seeing this offer as disrespectful, Williams decided to test the market and ended up signing with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints contract ended up being less than what the Lions had originally tenured Williams, a three year 12 million dollar deal. 3.9 million as a signing bonus and 8.15 million in guaranteed money. Again, this contract is less than Ekeler’s.

Lets take a quick look at some running backs that are getting paid more than Ekeler and see what their current situation is. Of the 12 running backs making a larger annual salary than Ekeler, five of them have been shopped or have been dropped or have been rumors of being released to save cap space. Three of them have been franchised tagged and one of them is Christian Mcaffrey

The Chiefs just won the Superbowl with a rookie running back as their number one option in the backfield. All this adds up to one thing. Austin Ekeler is worth more than he’s getting paid currently but sadly there just isn’t a market for him. The Chargers knew that when contract extensions stalled, they gave Ekeler the opportunity to go out into the league and find a trade partner if he felt he was getting paid unfairly with the Chargers current contract with him. He simply couldn’t find someone, let alone trying to find someone to pay you but to give up draft capitol at the same time to try and acquire you is a huge ask in this running back market.

Is Austin Ekeler a great part of this Chargers organization? Yes. Are we going to pay him twice what he’s getting now to retain him and keep him a Charger? No. Could I see us maybe giving him 10-11 million a year? Yes, but something tells me we already offered something close to that before extension talks broke down. I see us playing out Ekeler’s contract and picking up a surprise free agent in the next coming weeks and we will not draft Robinson in the first round. I wish the best for the Backfield and their contributions this upcoming season.

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Austin Ekeler and An Update On The Chargers RB Room

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