Breathe easy, fantasy football fans. Austin Ekeler won't be traded, and won't be holding out. He'll return to the Chargers offense that he's been putting up huge numbers in for at least another season.
That's the word from ESPN's Adam Schefter. Ekeler had been seeking a new contract earlier in the offseason, and then he wanted to be traded. But the Chargers have come through with some additional incentive money, presumably easily achieved, that will keep him in Los Angeles for at least one more year.
Ekeler was fantasy's top running back last season (PPR), and he was No. 2 in 2021. In his four years as a starter, he's finished lower than 4th just once, in 2020 (when he missed six games). But in the 10 games he did play, he was pretty awesome.
Over the last four seasons, Ekeler has averaged over 16 fantasy points (PPR) per game in all of them. On that basis, he's had three of the 12 best seasons (among running backs who played at least 10 games) and a fourth in the top 35 across that four-year period.
RUNNING BACK FANTASY POINTS PER GAME, 2019-2022 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | G | Run | No | Rec | TD | PPR | FF/G |
2019 | Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 16 | 1387 | 116 | 1005 | 19 | 471.2 | 29.5 |
2020 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 15 | 932 | 83 | 756 | 21 | 377.8 | 25.2 |
2020 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 14 | 1557 | 44 | 361 | 17 | 343.8 | 24.6 |
2022 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 17 | 915 | 107 | 722 | 18 | 378.7 | 22.3 |
2021 | Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 17 | 1811 | 40 | 360 | 20 | 377.1 | 22.2 |
2021 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 16 | 911 | 70 | 647 | 20 | 349.8 | 21.9 |
2019 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 14 | 1135 | 53 | 519 | 13 | 296.4 | 21.2 |
2020 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 16 | 2027 | 19 | 114 | 17 | 337.1 | 21.1 |
2022 | Christian McCaffrey, 2TM | 17 | 1139 | 85 | 741 | 13 | 356.7 | 21.0 |
2019 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 15 | 1540 | 18 | 206 | 18 | 300.6 | 20.0 |
2019 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 16 | 1084 | 49 | 474 | 19 | 318.8 | 19.9 |
2019 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 16 | 1357 | 54 | 420 | 14 | 315.7 | 19.7 |
2019 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 16 | 557 | 92 | 993 | 11 | 313.0 | 19.6 |
2022 | Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 17 | 1653 | 53 | 400 | 12 | 330.3 | 19.4 |
2022 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 16 | 1538 | 33 | 398 | 13 | 308.8 | 19.3 |
2019 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 13 | 1003 | 52 | 438 | 8 | 244.1 | 18.8 |
2020 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 14 | 1104 | 47 | 355 | 11 | 258.9 | 18.5 |
2021 | Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 14 | 812 | 69 | 454 | 10 | 255.6 | 18.3 |
2021 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 16 | 1205 | 42 | 314 | 16 | 289.9 | 18.1 |
2021 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 13 | 898 | 47 | 439 | 9 | 234.7 | 18.1 |
2020 | James Robinson, Jac. | 14 | 1070 | 49 | 344 | 10 | 252.4 | 18.0 |
2019 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 14 | 797 | 81 | 533 | 6 | 250.7 | 17.9 |
2020 | David Montgomery, Chi. | 15 | 1070 | 54 | 438 | 10 | 266.8 | 17.8 |
2022 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 16 | 1312 | 57 | 338 | 10 | 284.0 | 17.8 |
2021 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 17 | 1200 | 74 | 467 | 10 | 300.7 | 17.7 |
2020 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 12 | 1067 | 16 | 150 | 12 | 209.7 | 17.5 |
2019 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 15 | 1152 | 76 | 522 | 3 | 261.4 | 17.4 |
2021 | James Conner, Ariz. | 15 | 752 | 37 | 375 | 18 | 257.7 | 17.2 |
2022 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 14 | 814 | 60 | 441 | 9 | 239.5 | 17.1 |
2020 | Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 15 | 1169 | 36 | 299 | 12 | 254.8 | 17.0 |
2020 | Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 10 | 584 | 41 | 388 | 5 | 168.2 | 16.8 |
2022 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 17 | 1525 | 27 | 239 | 13 | 283.4 | 16.7 |
2020 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 10 | 530 | 54 | 403 | 3 | 165.3 | 16.5 |
2019 | Mark Ingram, Balt. | 15 | 1018 | 26 | 247 | 15 | 246.5 | 16.4 |
2019 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 16 | 1494 | 36 | 278 | 8 | 261.2 | 16.3 |
2021 | D'Andre Swift, Det. | 13 | 617 | 62 | 452 | 7 | 210.9 | 16.2 |
2021 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 13 | 1159 | 34 | 224 | 6 | 210.3 | 16.2 |
2019 | Chris Carson, Sea. | 15 | 1230 | 37 | 266 | 9 | 240.6 | 16.0 |
2020 | Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 1065 | 33 | 238 | 12 | 235.3 | 15.7 |
2020 | Chris Carson, Sea. | 12 | 681 | 37 | 287 | 9 | 187.8 | 15.7 |
Ekeler just turned 28, which is the age that people start thinking about pushing running backs off the stage these days, but his style of play, more receiver than grinding runner, makes it seem he'll be pretty likely to keep things going for at least another season. Somehow he slipped to the 10th spot in our Experts Draft last week, perhaps with some worried about the contract situation. Looks like people can stop worrying, and draft him in the top 3-4 players with confidence.
--Andy Richardson