Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler has been very vocal recently about the current state of the running back market for him and his peers. There is some outrage amongst the players after Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley and Tony Pollard all failed to work out a long-term deal with their respective teams after having the franchise tag placed on them.
That was just the latest in a cratering market for running backs as free agency wasn’t kind to players at the position either. Miles Sanders signed the largest deal, a four-year contract that pays just over $6 million per season.
It is something that has miffed Austin Ekeler, who had some strong feelings when talking about No. 3 receivers making more money on their contracts than he and other starting running backs around the league. Recently, he spoke on the subject again of his contract.
Earlier this offseason the Chargers permitted Austin Ekeler to seek out a trade. Contract negotiations with Los Angeles weren’t going well, so if he found a team willing to compensate him and the team, a deal could get done.
However, it wasn’t that simple. According to Austin Ekeler, a trade never got close to being completed. That is because in his words, the baggage that was attached to him in negotiations.
“No, and that’s because I came with a lot of baggage,” Ekeler told Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. “You were going to have to trade some high picks for me. The Chargers, they weren’t going to let me go for anything that wasn’t up there, so they saw my value there. It’s funny how when they allow me the trade, they’re like, ‘OK, but we want you to get these types of picks,’ which were not low picks, ‘but we’re not going to pay you like you’re that type of player.’ So, it’s kind of interesting where it’s like, ‘Oh, if you’re going to get traded, you got to get traded at this level, but if we’re going to keep you, we’re going to keep you down here at this level.’
“You can see for them, yeah, it makes sense because they’re getting the best of both worlds there. They have the leverage. And so that’s why it was tough for me to get anything out there or get a new contract where you’re going to have to give up high picks and also restructure my contract. That’s just being transparent on my situation.” (H/T Brenna White of NFL.com)
A lot of people will say that the NFL is a business and at the end of the day, that is what comes first. But, exerting that kind of leverage against a player who has performed at a high level and deserves to be compensated as such just doesn’t feel right.
While the Chargers gave Austin Ekeler permission to seek a trade, they had to know in the back of their heads no trade would get done with the demands that they put in place. Given how teams around the league are viewing running backs currently, nobody was going to hand out a lucrative long-term contract on top of premium draft capital to acquire Austin Ekeler regardless of how productive he has been.
