For a moment in the offseason, Chargers running back Austin Ekeler requested a trade from the team as he negotiated a new contract. Eventually, he and the team agreed to a restructured deal that added incentives to the final year of his four-year, $24.5 million deal this season.
However, Ekeler doesn’t seem thrilled with his deal, or the state of running back contracts as a whole. On The Rich Eisen Show, Ekeler explained his perspective of the running back market.
“It comes down to comparing, let’s see what the real value added to a team is,” Ekeler said. “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? I’m a little bit like, OK, wait a minute, so you’re telling me these people are the No. 3 receiver 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.”
