Earlier in the offseason, Chargers running back Austin Ekeler received permission to seek a trade after it became clear that Los Angeles was not willing to give him a contract extension.
No trade materialized, in large part because no team was willing to give Ekeler the contract he was looking for. But Ekeler will get the chance to earn some additional money via incentives added to his Chargers deal.
This week, Ekeler appeared on the Rich Eisen Show and shared how he’s feeling when it comes to the running back market.
“If I’m looking at some of the backup receivers out here that are still making more than me, that’s going to piss me off, right?” Ekeler said. “I’m a little bit like, OK, wait a minute, so you’re telling me these people are the No. 3 receivers and they’re going to make more than me? And I’m the starter? I get more carries, I touch the ball more, I have more of an impact.
“It causes us to question, right? We’re going to fight for that. I’m bringing more value to the team than this person. I think I should be compensated for that. ... It seems like it’s about money, but it’s about principles. It’s about the principle of adding value to a team.”
But for Ekeler, the three franchise-tagged running backs — Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, and Tony Pollard — and now free agent Dalvin Cook, the reality is that teams have not been willing to agree to significant contracts to players at that position. Ekeler said he can see the rationale for that.
“If they’re like, hey, none of these other running backs are getting paid, let’s just see what happens. Let’s franchise tag these guys and let’s wait a year. Let’s see what happens,” Ekeler said. “So, both sides are playing this game. And how it turns out, time will tell.”
The franchise-tagged RBs have until Monday to strike a new deal with their respective teams. As of now, that doesn’t necessarily seem likely to happen.
“It’s going to take something — whether some guy stands out again, whether it’s this year, one of these guys holds out and gets a big contract,” Ekeler said. “But we need that needle to move to push us over the edge, because here’s the deal: salary cap goes up every single year. So you see new highs in every single position.
“And I’m not saying we’ve had another Christian McCaffrey-type guy who’s going to blow up the market for running backs and put a new high. We’ve had people get close for sure. Maybe you can justify that they haven’t. But there’s no one who’s even been close to those contracts — not even close.”
