Austin Ekeler signed a team-friendly four-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Chargers back in 2020. It was a modest four-year, $24.5 million deal that offered a rising running back financial stability in case he failed to live up to his 2019 breakout and his team the chance to reap a massive bargain if his star continued to rise.
Ekeler’s star hit the stratosphere somewhere around 2021. He led the league in total touchdowns each of the last two seasons. He’s run for more than 900 yards in each of those campaigns while adding 107 receptions in 2022 — tied for second-most in a single season for any running back all-time. He was one of the NFL’s most productive players and getting paid like its 13th-best running back. Ekeler’s salary ranked behind Nyheim Hines and was only $75,000 more than Chase Edmonds’ last fall.
