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RB Austin Ekeler, WAS (2 Viewers)

from another thread @Biabreakable:

Chargers - Travis Benjamin saw an increase in targets and opportunity against the Patriots. Mike WIlliams has increased his playing time slightly each of the last 3 weeks.Oliver returned to the lineup but Ekeler still played 3 times as much. Both had 3 opportunities.
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was watching the game today. he was on the field A LOT down the stretch...

not sure if something is bother gordon, but ekeler looked like the better back today and the team seemed to realize it.

the team even brought him out to run the clock and... then he had that awful fumble.

i'll be curious to watch how this plays out going forward but gordon owners can't feel THAT good.

 
Efritch4 said:
People who picked up Ekeler...are you putting him in your lineups this week?
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Very tempted to go against all the "experts" and start him over Lamar Miller.  Hard not to get excited about the possibilities after what the Bills D gave up last week, while the Cards have a tough run D and I just don't trust that Texans offense(especially after Miller only saw 2 touches in the 2nd half last week).  Fully aware that there is a decent possibility Ekeler puts up 1-3 points, while Miller gets his usually 10 or so... but there's no fun in fantasy football if you're not willing to take some risks!

 
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What are thoughts on Ekeler's dynasty value? Gordon is pretty young and seems entrenched there for at least next year (2018 contract). 

 
zamboni said:
What are thoughts on Ekeler's dynasty value? Gordon is pretty young and seems entrenched there for at least next year (2018 contract). 
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I've bought across my dynasty leagues because I could easily see Ekeler establishing a very stable role.  Whizz has previously (and successfully) used Woodhead and Gordon together.  Ekeler is setting himself up for at least that role moving forward.

I also think it's possible, should Ekeler continue to excel, that San Diego lets Gordon test the market as a FA after next year.  By 2019 Ekeler could be a lead back, even if we assume no decline/injury from Gordon or major role change.

ETA - San Diego's decision on Gordon's 5th year option this offseason should give us some indication as to their plans moving forward.

 
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pantherclub said:
If not for the fumble then I think Ekeler would have a golden opportunity this week. 
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In some ways, I think the fumble represented a great buy-low opportunity in the immediate term.  But, I've already been burned by this coaching staff with Hunter Henry, so who knows!

 
>> Ekeler has drawn ample comparisons to the reliable Woodhead; for his modest height yet solid build, his hard running, versatile pass-catching and small-school background.

Like Ekeler, Woodhead was lightly recruited out of high school, playing college in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, for Chadron State.

While Woodhead was, at the time, the NCAA all-divisions career rushing record-holder, racking up 7,962 yards in four years, Ekeler had jaw-dropping numbers of his own at Western State.

He broke nearly every Mountaineer career rushing record, carrying the ball 932 times for 5,857 yards and 55 touchdowns.

As Chadron's secondary coach and special teams coordinator for five years, Western State head coach Jas Bains spent time with Woodhead before coaching Ekeler in Gunnison.

In an interview with The Tribune in December, Bains compared Ekeler to Woodhead.

"You get one-on-one out in space, and good luck to the defender," Bains said of Ekeler's Woodhead-like ability to evade tackles and head downhill. "He's been the face of our program since he arrived. He's probably one of the best players to come out of Western in a long time and, just looking at the numbers, probably the best tailback ever to play at Western."

And, now, just as Woodhead departs the Golden State, Ekeler hopes to slide right into the Chargers' West Coast offense and make a similar impact, while writing a similar success story.

"When I was talking to the (Chargers') scout, when they first came up, he was saying I kind of reminded him of Danny; they told me the same thing (Saturday)," Ekeler said. "That's my goal, is to replace (Woodhead) and what he was doing there, because he was doing a good job."<<

- 4/29/17 Greeley Tribune.

 
I don't know how much more ekeler is gonna get.  He got like half the touches last week.  Is Gordon going to be the backup?  I doubt it.  

 
need2know said:
I don't know how much more ekeler is gonna get. He got like half the touches last week. Is Gordon going to be the backup? I doubt it.
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Well Gordon was still utilized 24 times to Ekeler's 15.

Ekeler played on a career high 33% of the snaps and was utilized a career high 15 times last week.

He's clearly trended up since the beginning the season (snap count percentages of 5%, 5%,8%, 5%, 17%, 11%, 31%, 30%, BYE, 33%).

Let's say the current trend holds and he plays on ~30% of the snaps and is utilized 12-15 times a game while commanding ~15% market share. If that's the case then he really is on the flex radar in PPR leagues. And if he continues to trend up and forces some type of legitimate timeshare, then we can honestly start talking about him as a RB2. And this really isn't out of the realm of possibility. Gordon looked like complete trash last week, he made Ekeler look like Ladainian Tomlinson in comparison.

But also, if Gordon were to hypothetically go down it wouldn't turn into the Ekeler show - Oliver would be worked in to some extent. Because of this, I do think his ceiling is ultimately capped. He would need to be Chris Thompson efficient to turn into a RB1.

TLDR: I think there's legitimate value here. 

 
SameSongNDance said:
Well Gordon was still utilized 24 times to Ekeler's 15.

Ekeler played on a career high 33% of the snaps and was utilized a career high 15 times last week.

He's clearly trended up since the beginning the season (snap count percentages of 5%, 5%,8%, 5%, 17%, 11%, 31%, 30%, BYE, 33%).

Let's say the current trend holds and he plays on ~30% of the snaps and is utilized 12-15 times a game while commanding ~15% market share. If that's the case then he really is on the flex radar in PPR leagues. And if he continues to trend up and forces some type of legitimate timeshare, then we can honestly start talking about him as a RB2. And this really isn't out of the realm of possibility. Gordon looked like complete trash last week, he made Ekeler look like Ladainian Tomlinson in comparison.

But also, if Gordon were to hypothetically go down it wouldn't turn into the Ekeler show - Oliver would be worked in to some extent. Because of this, I do think his ceiling is ultimately capped. He would need to be Chris Thompson efficient to turn into a RB1.

TLDR: I think there's legitimate value here. 
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I agree.  I have both Gordon and ekeler.  I'm thinking if Gordon can get his #### together and start playing a bit better ekeler getting a bit more touches might help him.  But yeah he looked like trash last week.  Prob the worst he's looked all season.  The only time he got targets from rivers, they were uncatchable throws on third down, so rivers really didn't help him any.

 
That's it...he's officially starting for me this week over the likes of Lamar Miller, Latavius Murray and probably some other people with the initials 'LM'.

Time to ride Ekeler and Burkhead to a playoff spot!  I don't have any delusions of Ekeler taking over the backfield(barring injury, or at least not this week...) but he doesn't need to.  If he can get the same number of touches that he did last week(and I think he will at least be close to it), he'll be a worthy starter in PPR with some nice upside due to that matchup.

 
Ridcully said:
That's it...he's officially starting for me this week over the likes of Lamar Miller, Latavius Murray and probably some other people with the initials 'LM'.

Time to ride Ekeler and Burkhead to a playoff spot!  I don't have any delusions of Ekeler taking over the backfield(barring injury, or at least not this week...) but he doesn't need to.  If he can get the same number of touches that he did last week(and I think he will at least be close to it), he'll be a worthy starter in PPR with some nice upside due to that matchup.
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I'm sticking with Lamar over ekeler.

 
Ridcully said:
That's it...he's officially starting for me this week over the likes of Lamar Miller, Latavius Murray and probably some other people with the initials 'LM'.

Time to ride Ekeler and Burkhead to a playoff spot!  I don't have any delusions of Ekeler taking over the backfield(barring injury, or at least not this week...) but he doesn't need to.  If he can get the same number of touches that he did last week(and I think he will at least be close to it), he'll be a worthy starter in PPR with some nice upside due to that matchup.
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The floor of Miller and even Murray is higher than ekeler.  Truth is we probably just saw his best game of the year and you are chasing points.  

 
FreshiZ said:
What are you offering. I'd take a second for him.
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I’d probably do that. Most of my dynasty teams I don’t have a lot of picks floating around and that seems to be the only way to try and get him. I think most deals I was trying to combine Matt Breida with other pieces.

 
PFF: Fantasy 5: Austin Ekeler on the rise?

1. IS AUSTIN EKELER’S WORKLOAD A CONCERN FOR MELVIN GORDON OWNERS?

Last week against the Jaguars, Ekeler played on 33.3 percent of the team’s offensive snaps, rushing 10 times for 42 yards and catching 5-of-5 targets for 77 yards and two touchdowns. Given how poorly Gordon played that week (16 rushes for 27 yards with a 5-15-0 receiving stat line), people have been (fairly) questioning Gordon’s role moving forward. I think we’ll learn a lot about each player’s respective roles in this game against the Bills. Buffalo has been absolutely dreadful against the run over the past two weeks, allowing 475 rushing yards and seven touchdowns to opposing running backs. Gordon has been a back that relies on volume for his fantasy points for much of his career, and it isn’t difficult to envision him seeing a ton of volume this week with the Chargers as 6-point home favorites. Gordon could either win you a GPP with a 100-yard outing and multiple scores, or fall flat with a 25-67-0 stat line. He’s a tremendous DFS tournament option given this wide range of outcomes. Ekeler is probably best served as a fringe flex play in 12-team or deeper leagues. He could possibly take over garbage time snaps if this game gets out of hand early with Nathan Peterman drawing his first NFL start on the road. This is going to be a game I’m monitoring closely in Week 11 to see whether or not Ekeler’s spike in snaps (he played a career-high last week) was a blip on the radar or something here to stay for the remainder of the season.
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pantherclub said:
Panic?  What level you talking about here?  From Gordon or in general?  I have to start AE because my other options are dog crap. 
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Yes. From Gordon in general.

I have no problem with anyone starting Ekeler and think he holds value. And I probably posted my original thought in the wrong thread.

 
Gordon's last 3 games:

7 - Vs Den 18/38 + 1/4 - Ek went 7/38 + 4/6/1

8 - @NE 14/132/1 + 1/7 - This included an 87 yard TD run, otherwise Gordon went 13/45/0 - Ek didn't get many opportunities in this game though he got snaps: 2/8 + 1/13

10 - @Jax 16/27 + 5/15 - Ek went 10/42 + 5/77/2

 
VikingFrog said:
Yes. From Gordon in general.

I have no problem with anyone starting Ekeler and think he holds value. And I probably posted my original thought in the wrong thread.
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I think Gordon is a must start if you have him, obviously start him over AE but for some of us with garbage on the bench (Morris, Martin, Rawls etc) I dont have a choice

I know I am over thinking this but a part of me thinks that since Rivers is banged up he may be looking to dump of the ball a bit quicker tomorrow so maybe AE can rack up some easy catches.  Probably over thinking that though

 
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need2know said:
The floor of Miller and even Murray is higher than ekeler.  Truth is we probably just saw his best game of the year and you are chasing points.  
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I don't disagree.  Ekeler absolutely has a lower floor than Miller and Murray, but I also think he has the highest upside right now.   There's a very good chance last week was Ekeler's best game of the year, but there's also a chance that he's going to continue to see an increased workload(both based on his performance and the poor performance/possible injury of Gordon).  Add to that he is playing against a defense that just allowed over 60 fantasy points to the Saints RB trio, and nearly 40 to the Jets RBs the previous week.

I like taking risks sometimes, and want to try out my shiny new waiver claim over Miller who seems to be capped at 8-12 points without Watson.  :)

 
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Austin Ekeler - RB -  Chargers

Austin Ekeler remains the No. 2 running back on the Chargers' unofficial depth chart.

Seventh-rounder Justin Jackson made some noise in offseason Dynasty league circles, but Ekeler remains firmly entrenched behind Melvin Gordon. Perhaps Jackson could change that with a monster preseason but it is hard to see him dislodging Ekeler.

Source: Jack Wang on Twitter 

Aug 7 - 7:41 PM
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