Not a lot has gone right for the Los Angeles Chargers this season. They are currently sitting at 4-8 and are basically out of the playoff picture. They’ve had to deal with Philip Rivers declining, a Melvin Gordon holdout, and an offensive coordinator change. Not to mention some of the bizarre 2016-esque finishes to games, like most recently against the Denver Broncos with that late long pass interference call.
There are certainly several players who have done well despite this disappointing season. But none have broken out as well or shown as much improvement as Austin Ekeler, who was basically their resident James White-type receiving back. Except at this point, we can’t call him a discount or poor man’s White anymore. He’s established himself as an elite receiving back in this league.
Austin Ekeler and His Breakout Season
The “Receiving Back” Position
The receiving back has become much more of a sought-after thing in recent years. They can be used in a few ways. This includes screen plays, which they’re faster at than some receivers – or as an extra safety valve besides the tight end. Some of the more elite runners in the league are used for both running and receiving, such as Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara. But some teams choose to have another running back as part of the rotation. This can be either out of necessity (because the actual starting runner can’t catch reliably) or just because they want another weapon.
This is where you have halfbacks like James White or Tarik Cohen that end up with significantly more receiving yards than rushing. The Chargers have had a couple of such halfbacks in the past in Darren Sproles and Danny Woodhead. They’ve had Ekeler for a couple of years and he’d been a good change-of-pace runner with some good receiving ability. But now he’s established himself as one of, if not the best receiving backs in the league.
The Season so Far
Ekeler started out as the starting running back altogether this season when Gordon held out and ultimately missed 4 games. He ended up being the main reason they won in Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts, scoring three touchdowns including the game-winning one in overtime. When Gordon returned, his carries became limited again and he’s only gotten 10+ carries once since. But the receiving looks he was getting did not disappear. If anything, they almost trended upward.
Ekeler currently has 380 rushing yards for three touchdowns… and 69 catches for 718 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He already has over 1,000 yards from scrimmage. And he actually leads the league in receiving among running backs (30th overall). He is also second in running back receptions (11th overall) behind McCaffrey. He’s also had two 100-yard receiving games and a 15-reception game. Bizarrely enough, he was actually second on the team in receiving behind Keenan Allen for quite a while, only just recently getting surpassed by Mike Williams.
He already has more receiving yards in a season than Sproles or Woodhead ever did (though not as many scrimmage yards as Sproles in 2011). Evidently, he’s putting up some absurd receiving numbers for his position. And there are still four games to go. It’s still possible we could see a 1,000-yard receiving season out of him.
Last Word on Austin Ekeler
League viewers have likely become aware of how good Austin Ekeler has been this season (especially if they have him in fantasy). But he’s ascended even further to the elite of receiving backs than some may have realized. He can no longer be called a discount James White or poor man’s Darren Sproles. Because at this point, we’ll have to start calling guys like Cohen a discount Ekeler.
Both Ekeler and Melvin Gordon are free agents this off-season. It doesn’t seem that likely that Gordon will be back. However, the Chargers would do well to get Ekeler re-signed. A player like Ekeler is harder to replace than a normal runner like Gordon (which has become almost the most replaceable position in general). Sure, other receiving backs exist, but most of them won’t get 700+ receiving yards. Regardless of what the future looks like at quarterback or whatever for the Chargers, Ekeler’s a player they should want to be part of that future.
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