Austin Ekeler is one of the best dual-threat running backs in the league right now. And even after a down year in 2020, Ekeler is confident that fans should draft him on their Fantasy Football team.
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Austin Ekeler has established himself as an important piece in the Chargers’ offense. In only 10 games last year due to a hamstring injury, Ekeler had 530 yards rushing and 403 yards receiving, totalling 933 yards and 3 scores. And this was considered a down year for the running back.
Ekeler was a force the last time he played a full 16 game season. In 2019, he had 557 rushing yards on 4.2 yards-per-carry and also hauled in 92 receptions for 993 yards at 10.8 yards-per-catch. Those are dynamic numbers.
So now fully healthy, Austin Ekeler should trouble defenses once again in 2021
Austin Ekeler says that fans should draft him in their fantasy teams
“Hey, I’m going to get the ball,” Ekeler said Friday, via Chris Hayre of the team website. “I’m going to make things happen. They’re going to throw me the ball; I’m going to make things happen. If you want to get Fantasy points, you better have me on your team. So, that’s all I got to say. If I’m healthy, I’m going to score you points.”
Chargers head coach Brandon Staley calls Ekeler a complete back, and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has big plans for Ekeler this season.
“That’s why he made it [in the league]. He was a complete special teams player initially,” Staley said of Ekeler, who broke into the league as an undrafted free agent. “He’s a complete back. He can run the ball. And he can run the route tree.”
“He can pass protect. He’s an intense competitor. He comes out here and does his job at a high level consistently and that example is not exclusive to running backs.”
“His example is set for the whole team and we’ve got a lot of guys like that. [CB] Chris Harris Jr. was undrafted. [G] Matt Feiler was undrafted. We’ve got a lot of good examples of that on our football team and you can’t have enough of it because football’s the ultimate meritocracy.”
It should be very interesting to see if Ekeler can bounce back with a solid season in 2021.
