Austin Ekeler: ‘100 Percent’ There’s Pressure on Chargers QB Justin Herbert After New Deal
Austin Ekeler said it, but you can safely bet Justin Herbert and the the Chargers as an organization all would be in some level of agreement — of course there’s pressure on the star quarterback. One could argue that there’s always pressure on the signal-caller (there is), but obviously, for Herbert, that all hits a bit differently this year.
Herbert, who signed a record-setting five-year, $262.5 million contract extension this offseason, will make an average of $52.5 million per year. And if it’s not stating the obvious, his teammate, running back Austin Ekeler told SI’s Robin Lundberg that Herbert, is “100%’ pressure on the quarterback, along with the entire team, going into this season.
“100 percent, there’s pressure on every one of us. For him, he just got paid all this money, so the organization’s going to want to see him play well, he’s going to want to see himself play well, I want to see him play well — he’s got a ton of pressure,” Ekeler stated.
When asked how Herbert will respond to that pressure, Ekeler said, “we will see, time will tell.”
It doesn’t appear that Ekeler is too concerned that his starting quarterback won’t live up to the hype and expectations that come from the new deal. Regardless, it’s unlikely this was the easiest conversation for the running back to make in the midst of essentially a league-wide battle for running backs to receive contracts that align more fairly with their production.
Ekeler, who’s 28, has been the epitome of consistent since taking over the bulk of the workload in Los Angeles. The last two seasons have been specifically impressive for the running back, who’s played in every game over that span while rushing for 1,826 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground. He’s also tallied a stellar 177 receptions for 1,369 receiving yards and 13 additional scores over that same span.
It shouldn’t be a tough argument for a player who’s scored 38 touchdowns over the last 33 games to receive a huge contract extension. But heading into 2023, Ekeler is set to make $6.25 million in base salary and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2024.
