Ekeler: Negotiated Incentives for 2023 Contract Year

[Bolt4Knob]

Charbonet plays like a slightly bigger version of Ekeler, not a bad thing.

I truly wish we knew more of what Spiller has. Granted, if a RB is picked on Day 1 or Day 2 - that answers that question

[Eurobolt]

I truly wish we knew more of what Spiller has. Granted, if a RB is picked on Day 1 or Day 2 - that answers that question

I do not believe in Spiller he is lacking speed.

[Bolt4Knob]

I do not believe in Spiller he is lacking speed.

McKitty, Palmer Spiller, Rumph -- all picks in the last two years and yet

Draft needs are TE, ER, RB and Edge

And I understand needs always are evolving but those picks were good picks - rounds 3 and 4. Popper already has Rumph as a ST player probably. MckItty had a bad year blocking and catching.

[dmac_bolt]

“I Like Eke”. Someone should make buttons …

I don’t see a lot of incentive to trade him after the draft, unless it’s swapping for a player we can use. Unless we nab Bijan, that is

[Budsman]

Lets take your answers 1 by 1.

Gordon was taken in round 1 to be a featured back. Ekeler wasn't even drafted. He was a undrafted free agent. Turns out when you draft
a guy in the first round he better start over a UFA or someone gets the axe and it ain't Ekeler. Gordon pushed himself out of the Chargers org
and Ekeler became the #1 guy when our great FO failed to bring in a RB that could beat out Eleker through the draft. Is that Ekeler's fault?
And it wasn't Lombardi that make Ekeler the featured back.

Herbert didn't win the starting QB job under Lynn, because Lynn is old school run first guy. So you see the fact that Herbert didn't toss the ball
around 700 times is due to Lynn and nothing to do with Ekeler. Again Ekeler was the #1 guy before Lombardi got here. Unfortunately injury
kept out of 6 games. Nobody has ever claimed that Ekeler is a big back that can run between the tackles. So not sure what you're talking about.
Our O line has been shit and that contributed heavily to what Lombardi was able to do. Turns out that Ekeler is pretty good at catching the football
and Herbert has used him as a lifeline, especially under pressure which not by coincidence happens a lot. Enter Ekeler.

The dump offs were not a designed play, they were a last resort for Herbert. A great deal of the passes Ekeler caught were behind the LOS,
In fact he gained over 700 yards passing from the LOS, but over 800 if you count where he first caught the ball. Get it?

CMC is not a between the tackler runner, just like Ekeler. In fact Ekeler is a stronger guy. But the OCs for which CMC plays for designs plays
that stretch the defense so the guy finds space to run. In this regard Lombardi fails. He has a system and sticks to it. He's not an innovative guy.
So running our RBs not just Ekeler into brick walls became common practice and is the reason we ranked 30th out of 32 in running the football.
In short we need a big guy to run into the LOS that is not the fault of Ekeler. It's the fault of the FO which has failed to bring in such a guy.

Idk, maybe we’re talking past each other. I don’t think it was all on the oline and I think Ekeler caused some of the running difficulties. I just think it’s not a coincidence that when Lombardi got here and created a pass first offense that Ekelers numbers took off. It’s pretty clear to me he was a good player before hand, but he wasn’t a true RB1, they drafted Kelly to be the 1-2 punch with Ekeler that year.

Needing a big guy to run up the guy with is Ekelers fault though. It’s like saying it’s not the fault of a WR 1 that is all speed and can’t play the short game that a team needs to bring in an underneath guy as a wr2. While true the team probably should make better decisions and put the speed guy at wr2-3 that players limitations are the cause of that need. And normally I would agree that it’s more the teams fault then that players but when the player starts wanting more money than their worth and starts causing distractions then we start to look deeper at their warts.

[richpjr]

Didn’t having Ekeler as our number one back and not a multidimensional back that can actually run between the tackles cause more issues than it helped last season? If anything it exposed how everything has to go perfect for Ekeler to be a good RB1. If you need him to take over a game with his legs and take the pressure off our QB and passblocking or to take over a game and run out the clock, he just can’t do it.

Was that Ekeler or was that no holes to run through/play calling? From my recollection, it was much more a lack of holes and the play calling than an issue with Ekeler. I think a bigger back would be great (Spiller?) and would not be against adding one in the draft but in the end it doesn't matter how we move the chains, just so we do. Nobody in KC complains because Kelce caught 110 passes last year and a fair number of those were catches with the game on the line.

[Bolt4Knob]

Was that Ekeler or was that no holes to run through/play calling? From my recollection, it was much more a lack of holes and the play calling than an issue with Ekeler. I think a bigger back would be great (Spiller?) and would not be against adding one in the draft but in the end it doesn't matter how we move the chains, just so we do. Nobody in KC complains because Kelce caught 110 passes last year and a fair number of those were catches with the game on the line.

Kelce averaged 4.5 yards more per reception. So the problem with the Chargers offense wasn't Ekeler - it was other factors

But going forward - be nice to have a bit more YPC in the WR position and more touchdowns

[Budsman]

Was that Ekeler or was that no holes to run through/play calling? From my recollection, it was much more a lack of holes and the play calling than an issue with Ekeler. I think a bigger back would be great (Spiller?) and would not be against adding one in the draft but in the end it doesn't matter how we move the chains, just so we do. Nobody in KC complains because Kelce caught 110 passes last year and a fair number of those were catches with the game on the line.

In the nfl if you can’t make your own holes then that’s a problem. Holes open and close extremely quickly and sometimes you need to punch open some holes or find a sliver. Ekeler too often is either a home run or nothing. Any running back in the nfl given huge holes can be a good runner but the greats create and Ekeler more often than not isnt able to create those opportunities because frankly it’s just not his game.

[Bolt4Knob]

In the nfl if you can’t make your own holes then that’s a problem. Holes open and close extremely quickly and sometimes you need to punch open some holes or find a sliver. Ekeler too often is either a home run or nothing. Any running back in the nfl given huge holes can be a good runner but the greats create and Ekeler more often than not isnt able to create those opportunities because frankly it’s just not his game.

Bills just lost Singletary to the Texans
Bengals still might be of interest

Who knows - this might last until the draft

[Budsman]

Was that Ekeler or was that no holes to run through/play calling? From my recollection, it was much more a lack of holes and the play calling than an issue with Ekeler. I think a bigger back would be great (Spiller?) and would not be against adding one in the draft but in the end it doesn't matter how we move the chains, just so we do. Nobody in KC complains because Kelce caught 110 passes last year and a fair number of those were catches with the game on the line.

Imho, it’s not that Ekeler was a problem it’s that his inability to be a balanced back was a problem. For as much as the running game has been downgraded from the pass it’s still vitally important to have balance. Being able to have a back that can help in the run and the pass is very important. As we all saw when teams didn’t respect the run it because very hard for us to stop the pass rush. We need a player who can when needed take over a game in the ground in a tough slug fest and at the same time be a weapon out of the backfield. Ekeler as a RB2 behind a Bijan Robinson or another young stud would be amazing, but drafting another 5th round running back and hoping they can get good playing second fiddle behind Ekeler is not a recipe for success.

[Budsman]

Charbonet plays like a slightly bigger version of Ekeler, not a bad thing.

I’m not a nfl talent expert but just on the eye test it looked like Charbonet lacks the quicks, he’s not able to quickly get to top speed but he has more wiggle than Ekeler does and can break tackles better. I think he would be a great Ekeler partner, I think Bijan could just take the role from Ekeler because I’m not sure Bijan isn’t better in space than Ekeler.

[gzubeck]

Imho, it’s not that Ekeler was a problem it’s that his inability to be a balanced back was a problem. For as much as the running game has been downgraded from the pass it’s still vitally important to have balance. Being able to have a back that can help in the run and the pass is very important. As we all saw when teams didn’t respect the run it because very hard for us to stop the pass rush. We need a player who can when needed take over a game in the ground in a tough slug fest and at the same time be a weapon out of the backfield. Ekeler as a RB2 behind a Bijan Robinson or another young stud would be amazing, but drafting another 5th round running back and hoping they can get good playing second fiddle behind Ekeler is not a recipe for success.

This is the year to draft a second back in the 5th that might drop for no reason Like Salyer. I'm still taking one high and one low that slips. If they both pan out you hit the jackpot!