https://www.nfl.com/news/austin-ekeler-has-great-relationship-with-chargers-but-relentlessly-pursuing-opp

Austin Ekeler has 'great relationship' with Chargers but 'relentlessly
pursuing' opportunity for better deal

Published: Mar 21, 2023 at 08:04 AM

Kevin Patra
Around the NFL Writer

Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler requested and received
permission to explore trade options last week after contract extension
talks went nowhere.

Joining the Green Light with Chris Long podcast, posted on Monday,
Ekeler clarified that the request had nothing to do with the
organization but simply a desire to get paid commensurate with his value.

"I think it's really important to put it out there that it's not like,
'Oh, I hate the Chargers and I need to get out of this organization, and
I need to leave,'" he said. "That couldn't be further from the truth. I
would like to stay if it was under the right circumstances.

"Obviously, I have one more year on my contract there, so I'm
contractually obligated to play for them for this upcoming year. So,
we're in a situation where it's like, look, we have no guarantees or
anything like that this year, so kind of in a spot where I've been
outplaying my contract, and we might have an opportunity to go seek out
other options that can bring me up."

Ekeler is currently experiencing a dual threat of pay suppression: One,
the RBs market has cratered; two, undrafted players rarely fully dig out
of that pre-draft status to earn similar money to highly selected players.

After going undrafted out of Western Colorado in 2017, the running back
proved his value in Year 2, generating 958 scrimmage yards in 2018. He
boosted that to 1,550 scrimmage yards in 2019, including 933 receiving
yards and 11 total touchdowns.

After playing for peanuts for three years as an undrafted free agent --
he made $1.67 million total ($556K per year) -- Ekeler signed a
four-year, $24.5 million contract in 2020. The past two seasons, the
27-year-old back has generated 3,195 total scrimmage yards, including
900-plus rushing yards each campaign.

Ekeler said there is no timeline on when he could be traded -- though,
as a practical matter, we'd assume the draft is a soft deadline if the
Chargers are to see any value returned in a trade this season.

"I feel like there's no timeline on it," he told Long. "I'm so underpaid
right now as far as my contract and what I contribute to the team, it's
like, I am relentlessly pursuing this. I want to get something long-term
done. I want a team that wants me long term. I'm at the peak of my game,
right? As long as I'm healthy, I'm gonna score you another 20
touchdowns. I'm gonna have, you know, another 1,600 all-purpose yards.
I'm getting half my value of what I could be getting. I am relentlessly
pursuing someone who wants me for the long term."

To be frank, the deal was a steal for the Chargers the moment it was
signed, but given what he was making, it was hard to fault Ekeler for
signing any contract that boosted his pay significantly. Now, with one
year left with a base salary of $6.25 million, he's comically underpaid.
His $6.13 million average per year on his deal ranks 14th among running
backs. Christian McCaffrey ($16.01 million) and Alvin Kamara ($15
million) make well more than double.

It's understandable that the Chargers are wary of giving a running back
a third contract. Those historically go poorly. But Ekeler has stayed
healthy for the most part and isn't your normal road-grading back. His
ability to play in space, particularly in the passing game, could allow
for a more gradual decline.

It's petrifying to imagine L.A.'s offense sans Ekeler. The club has
attempted for years to find a capable second fiddle in the backfield to
take some pressure off but heretofore has swung and missed. The hope is
that fourth-round back Isaiah Spiller might take on more of the load in
Year 2. Not having Ekeler's dynamic home-run ability in the passing game
would hinder Justin Herbert's growth as well.

Ekeker told Long that the trade request has nothing to do with his
relationship and is simply business -- something teams often cite when
cutting a player or negotiating a pay cut.

"It literally has nothing to do with the relationship. I've made a great
relationship there," he said. "Grown there. That's where I started. So,
I want to be there, but on the right terms. Because I know, look, I
can't play forever. I think I can play for a long time just the way I
play and the way I treat myself and my mentality. There's not a lot of
5-foot-8 running backs doing what I'm doing. And there's a reason behind
that is it's mostly [mental]. And I've been able to skirt the injury bug.

"But for me, it's like, if there's an opportunity to get more value,
than why would you not jump on that? Why would you not at least try out
the options? And worst-case scenario -- it's not even a worst-case,
really -- but, OK, go play on the last year of your deal in L.A., then
become a free agent."

Given his deal and value, it's actually somewhat surprising Ekeler
didn't make this push last season. Entering the final year of his
contract, it makes sense for the back to look for a new payday. With the
Chargers needing to pay Herbert, however, you could understand certain
aspects of their trepidation.

Whether they can find common ground on a new deal will be a storyline
for the next several weeks as we hit the second and third waves of free
agency. It remains to be seen if another club could step up and offer
the Chargers a deal of draft picks that could pry the playmaking Ekeler
out of L.A.

Maybe don't sign a 4 yr contract if you think you're so good that you will out play it. The reason for the long contract is to give you security, but now he wants the best of both worlds.

Robin Miller <robin.miller@invalid.invalid> writes:

> https://www.nfl.com/news/austin-ekeler-has-great-relationship-with-chargers-but-relentlessly-pursuing-opp

> After playing for peanuts for three years as an undrafted free agent --
> he made $1.67 million total ($556K per year) -- Ekeler signed a
> four-year, $24.5 million contract in 2020.

I went to both overthecap and spotrac and they both say
(1) 4 years $24.5M
and
(2) $17.5M total salary, $6M signing bonus, and $2M roster bonus.
Those disagree by $1M. What am I missing?

Looks like a $25.5M contract to me.
overthecap goes further and lists a total cap hit of $25.5M.
How can the cap hit exceed the total contract?

I noticed because I was wondering how his final year's pay compared to the AAV.

Eddie

Eddie Grove wrote:
> Robin Miller <robin.miller@invalid.invalid> writes:
>
>> https://www.nfl.com/news/austin-ekeler-has-great-relationship-with-chargers-but-relentlessly-pursuing-opp
>
>> After playing for peanuts for three years as an undrafted free agent --
>> he made $1.67 million total ($556K per year) -- Ekeler signed a
>> four-year, $24.5 million contract in 2020.
>
> I went to both overthecap and spotrac and they both say
> (1) 4 years $24.5M
> and
> (2) $17.5M total salary, $6M signing bonus, and $2M roster bonus.
> Those disagree by $1M. What am I missing?
>
> Looks like a $25.5M contract to me.
> overthecap goes further and lists a total cap hit of $25.5M.
> How can the cap hit exceed the total contract?
>
> I noticed because I was wondering how his final year's pay compared to the AAV.
>
>
> Eddie
>

I think the $24.5M figure is simply wrong. If you look under "Cash
Flows" on the main ("Contract") page for Ekeler, for 2020 it lists "cash
due" as $9.5M, which is correct. However, below that the "running cash"
total is only $8.5M for 2020. I think that's a typo and accounts for the
four-year total of $24.5M rather than $25.5M.

BTW, OTC ranks his contract as 13/160 for running backs, which really
isn't bad at all.

https://overthecap.com/player/austin-ekeler/5865

--Robin

Robin Miller <robin.miller@invalid.invalid> writes:

> Eddie Grove wrote:
>> Robin Miller <robin.miller@invalid.invalid> writes:
>>
>>> https://www.nfl.com/news/austin-ekeler-has-great-relationship-with-chargers-but-relentlessly-pursuing-opp
>>
>>> After playing for peanuts for three years as an undrafted free agent --
>>> he made $1.67 million total ($556K per year) -- Ekeler signed a
>>> four-year, $24.5 million contract in 2020.
>>
>> I went to both overthecap and spotrac and they both say
>> (1) 4 years $24.5M
>> and
>> (2) $17.5M total salary, $6M signing bonus, and $2M roster bonus.
>> Those disagree by $1M. What am I missing?
>>
>> Looks like a $25.5M contract to me.
>> overthecap goes further and lists a total cap hit of $25.5M.
>> How can the cap hit exceed the total contract?
>>
>> I noticed because I was wondering how his final year's pay compared to the AAV.
>>
>>
>> Eddie
>>
>
>
> I think the $24.5M figure is simply wrong. If you look under "Cash
> Flows" on the main ("Contract") page for Ekeler, for 2020 it lists
> "cash due" as $9.5M, which is correct. However, below that the
> "running cash" total is only $8.5M for 2020. I think that's a typo and
> accounts for the four-year total of $24.5M rather than $25.5M.
>
> BTW, OTC ranks his contract as 13/160 for running backs, which really
> isn't bad at all.
>
> https://overthecap.com/player/austin-ekeler/5865
>
>
> --Robin

I think I finally figured it out. I was pissed off about the coverage of
Deandre Hopkins cap hit, ESPN saying how expensive he would be to a new
team. Hint ... dead cap doesn't move with the traded player. Duh!
The next time you see $30.75M for Hopkins in 2023, keep in mind the
acquiring team only has a cap hit of the salary of $19.45M, which could
be roughly cut to $10.5M if they restructure and push $9M into 2024
dead cap.

Anyway, what I figured out looking at Hopkins' contract is that the
numbers on overthecap are for the *current* contract only.
overthecap does not say $30.75M. It says less than $30M for 2023.
There is an entry for old money of $2,216,667, which if split over
3 years would explain the difference. I believe it comes to this:
Any dead cap hit due to a *previous* contract is *not* included.

So for Ekeler, I couldn't find specifics that make the arithmetic work,
but I found a couple of references to him making incentives.
Here is one.
https://boardroom.tv/austin-ekeler-contract-salary-chargers/
"OTHER BONUSES/INCENTIVES: $2,046,224"

So if he made a $1M incentive in 2019 the team would have to account for
the money [paid in 2020 I assume] in a cap hit for 2020 that was not
related to the current contract, and so not included in any of the cap
numbers on the overthecap page. That might be the source of the
discrepancy in the "running cash" line.

Eddie