Chargers News: NFL Insider Gives Insight on The Austin Ekeler Trade Request
I have full respect for Austin Ekeler not caving in and signing a smaller deal with the Chargers. It's clear that he wants to get compensated for having the best season of his career that saw him post over 900 yards and score 13 touchdowns.
However, I'm not sure if his resistance is doing that much good for his case. One of the ultimate goals that he is keeping in mind, besides getting a paycheck of course, is representing all RB's in the league and fighting for higher pay for them as well. NFL teams have strayed away from committing big deals to their position, especially when they're not too young like Ekeler, because they believe other offensive spots are more important.
NFL expert Ian Rapoport shared his thoughts on the recent reports that surfaced that revealed Ekeler sees going back to LA as the worst-case scenario and he believes that his feelings were hurt.
"Players are human-beings with feelings so I imagine Austin Ekeler's feelings are a little bit hurt when the Chargers said they don't want to talk about an extension anymore," said Rapoport. "My understanding though is that the Chargers went to him last year to try and give him more money and during parts of this past season and then into offseason to try and give him an extension."
"All of these trade requests comes on the heels of that. It's a tough market for running backs, I mean, look at free agency. The top running backs got $6 million a year, that's basically what Austin Ekeler is making. So he wants more than the top running back in free agency this year."
(Via Ian Rapoport)
It is going to be quite interesting to see how this situation plays out. Like I said earlier, both sides are staying firm in their own beliefs and wants.
Another big thing hurting Ekeler's case is that there are many big name RB's in the 2023 draft so the Bolts are looking at even younger option potentially instead of paying him.
