Fantasy Efficiency: Austin Ekeler, RB LAC

Justin Bales Posted On March 7, 2018

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Player: Austin Ekeler

Position: RB

2017 Touches: 74

2017 PPR Points: 106.9

2017 FP/Touch: 1.44

2017 Season

Austin Ekeler was an undrafted free agent who proved to be a jack-of-all-trades throughout his rookie season. He carved out a role on special teams before taking over as the backup and part-time third down running back. It was somewhat of a surprise to see Ekeler move up the depth chart so quickly, but it took him only a few weeks before he moved ahead of Andre Williams and Branden Oliver for the backup duties.

Ekeler was not necessarily a heavy part of the Chargers rushing attack, as he only saw 47 carries last season. He suffered a broken hand week 15, though, causing him to only play special teams for the final two weeks of the season. He was, however, the most efficient running back, averaging more than 1.5 more yards per carry than Melvin Gordon or Oliver. Overall, Ekeler needed only 11.2% of Los Angeles’ total carries to account for 16.3% of their rushing yards and 20% of rushing touchdowns.

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Ekeler’s best attribute, outside of his special teams skills, could be his receiving. He stole some third-down work from Melvin Gordon, but not an overly large amount, as Ekeler saw only 6.1% of the team’s total targets last season. He was somewhat efficient with his receiving, though, totaling 7.4% of receptions, 6.1% of receiving yards, and 10.7% of receiving touchdowns. Ekeler posted a 77.1% catch rate, which led the team in 2017, as well.

Efficiency

Ekeler took a similar path as Duke Johnson to find success this season, utilizing his receiving skills and ability to find the end zone to post elite per touch numbers. On the season, he was the third best player with 70 or more touches in the NFL on a per touch basis. He ranked only behind Alvin Kamara and Chris Thompson, who both enjoyed dominant seasons while they were healthy. Ekeler also would have ranked 19th in the NFL in catch rate, but he did not meet the requirements.

Future Outlook

Ekeler’s future is somewhat murky but is also extremely bright. He essentially needed preseason to claim the Los Angeles Chargers backup running back job. While a backup job is far from ideal, it is fairly impressive, as the Chargers have previously spoken highly of Branden Oliver, who has had proven NFL success. Oliver’s best traits are his receiving credentials, but Ekeler needed only a few games to entrench himself as a more worthy passing-down back.

Melvin Gordon is the biggest roadblock to Ekeler’s path to snaps. Gordon stayed healthy for all 16 games last season, totaling 342 touches. Los Angeles’ head coach, Anthony Lynn, recently stated that he is looking to get Gordon more touches next season as well. With that being said, he stated that the Chargers were a below average team in rushing attempts per game, suggesting that Ekeler will not be losing touches, rather the team will simply be throwing less. While he did not specifically say that, it is the most likely scenario at this time.

Gordon may not be a roadblock for Ekeler after this season, though. This is the last season Gordon is under contract unless Los Angeles opts to accept his fifth-year option. If Gordon is able to hit free agency, Spotrac suggests he could see upwards of $8 million per year. There have been rumors that the Chargers have not been overly impressed with Gordon throughout his career, meaning they could let him walk. Despite this, teams generally do not let high-end running backs walk away in free agency, although there is a chance he could be traded if the Chargers feel comfortable with Ekeler.

The biggest concern with Ekeler is that he is too small to carry a full workload at running back. While that is a concern, he is already adding weight to his frame, which should be the case again this off-season. He has also handled massive workloads throughout his collegiate career, averaging 263.5 touches per season or 26.4 touches per game. His size is certainly less than ideal, but he is not a fragile player, and it would not be shocking if he eventually sees over 200 touches in a season.

Current Value

Ekeler has nearly no value at this point in his career. It is somewhat baffling, but his undrafted free agent status has seemingly followed him throughout the off-season. His February ADP on DLF is 213.50, or late 17th round. He is also being selected as the RB67, even though he ended last season as the RB45 in only 14 games. Ekeler does not need a new role or more touches to return value at his current ADP.

Ekeler has very few trades that focus on him, which makes this a bit difficult to judge his full value. Still, there are three trades from October through November 2017 that feature Ekeler as the only player. Those trades are listed below.

Austin Ekeler for Alfred Morris
Austin Ekeler for a 2018 Fourth
Austin Ekeler for a 2018 Fourth

There is no real reason to avoid Ekeler in your leagues moving forward. He can be had for little to nothing, but comes with tremendous upside. The 200-pound back was the best runner in Los Angeles on a per touch basis last season, and it is only a matter of time before he plays himself into more touches. He costs pennies at the moment because of his undrafted free agent status along with his position behind a featured back. The time to get Ekeler is before he sees his role increase and costs much more valuable pieces or draft capital.

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