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RB Austin Ekeler, WAS (2 Viewers)

Ketamine Dreams

Footballguy
I didn't see an official thread for him so I figured I would make one, especially since I just acquired him in my dynasty.

He was extremely success at the Division II level, playing for Western State in Colorado and amassed some video game career stats. Measurables include 5' 9", 200# (most recently, previously listed as 195). His pro day stats include: 40 of 4.43, vertical of 40.5", a 10-8 broad jump, and a three cone of 6.85.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/20...rs-western-state-co-rb-austin-ekeler/aw86jvv/

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2017/profiles/austin-ekeler?id=2558796

Was picked up by the Chargers as an UDFA. https://boltbeat.com/2017/07/01/chargers-undrafted-rookie-spotlight-austin-ekeler/

Was kept on the 53 man and played this past week. He subbed in and had one carry for 35 yards and a TD. He also had two catches for 23 yards.

http://www.chargers.com/video/2017/10/01/austin-ekeler-35-yard-td

There is certainly some opportunity in the Chargers backfield. I've never been a huge Gordon fan, and his knee seems to be bothering him as well. Additionally, Oliver doesn't look like anywhere near the player he was before tearing his Achilles.

http://www.chargers.com/news/2017/10/04/austin-ekeler-forcing-his-way-bigger-role

I think there is certainly a Danny Woodhead role that Ekeler could fill on this team and possibly even more.

Thoughts?
 
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Never been a fan of Gordon's knee personally. Microfracture is no joke; just doesn't last long term. I think we are starting to see him break down a little bit as a microfracture recipient would. 

I think this guy looked pretty good in his limted time, someone to keep an eye on and definitely an individual worthy of the "potential RB lotto" designation. 

Will definitely  :blackdot:

 
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Picked him up in a couple leagues.  His HC mentioning the chains always seem to keep moving when he is in the game was the confirmation I needed.  Brandon Oliver hasn't looked sharp at all this year. 

 
Taking a flier on this kid as well. Toss up between him and McKissic, but it seems like Ekeler has a less crowded path to the job if the starter goes down.

 
I'm pretty sure Oliver is dealing with a hamstring injury as well. I love Ekeler. I don't have the space to roster him right now but I can see him being a hot waiver wire addition later down the road, especially in PPR.

 
Seems like every December teams are rolling out guys for playoff games that they had never heard of in October. This dude definitely would fit that bill.

 
Melvin Gordon had a great fantasy year last year, but not really a great year in actual football. He benefitted from a lot of TDs, but his YPC wasn't good all year. A lot of people were high on him, thinking Anthony Lynn was going to make him even better. But so far we aren't seeing that. Gordon's YPC is still low and he's one of the least productive RBs in the league based on successful run %. Then after the loss, he starts complaining about not getting the ball enough (the coach is right for not giving it to him). 

Lynn doesn't have any allegiances to this guy. His production really isn't there. The team isn't winning. Would it be out of the question to shake things up and see what they got in this kid? I don't think so. I think he's certainly worth stashing and seeing what happens this weekend.

 
Melvin Gordon had a great fantasy year last year, but not really a great year in actual football. He benefitted from a lot of TDs, but his YPC wasn't good all year. A lot of people were high on him, thinking Anthony Lynn was going to make him even better. But so far we aren't seeing that. Gordon's YPC is still low and he's one of the least productive RBs in the league based on successful run %. Then after the loss, he starts complaining about not getting the ball enough (the coach is right for not giving it to him). 

Lynn doesn't have any allegiances to this guy. His production really isn't there. The team isn't winning. Would it be out of the question to shake things up and see what they got in this kid? I don't think so. I think he's certainly worth stashing and seeing what happens this weekend.
I don't see Gordon losing the starting gig, but I can see more liberal sprinkling of Ekeler in, as Lynn suggested.

The bigger factor IMO is Gordon's balky knee - if that doesn't hold up, it could be the kid's big chance.

 
Posted this on Monday:

On Chargers radio this morning, Hardwick said Gordon was pulled because he was ineffective. They went on to play a clip from Anthony Lynn's postgame, within which he said something non-specific about making changes. Hardwick then said one of the changes he would make is to reduce Gordon's playing time in favor of Ekeler. Who knows if Lynn would actually consider that, but I thought it was interesting.

 
Is he worth a speculative add in lieu of dropping a handcuff (i.e. Dropping C. West when you have Kareem Hunt)?

My gut is telling me yes 

 
Is he worth a speculative add in lieu of dropping a handcuff (i.e. Dropping C. West when you have Kareem Hunt)?

My gut is telling me yes 
KC tends to be very productive at the RB position. I would try to hold on to West, but find someone else to drop if you have a spot to spare. These days you have to be ahead of the crowd or prepare to pay big bucks on waiver wire day. Imo, Ekeler will pass Oliver, but not supplant Gordon. He could eat into his time which will hurt Gordon.Gordon does have an injury history, so a PPR RB would be valuable in this offense.

 
If they start using Ekeler like Woodhead, remember how many touches Woody would get and how he was a very productive fantasy player? Just sayin'

 
As a Gordon owner, I really wanted to add this guy in my PPR keeper league since Tuesday. I’d have to cut a guy like Collins or Mack to do it though. Hoping he stays relatively quiet this week or he’ll be gone. 

 
Posted this in the Gordon thread this morning:

When Woodhead was healthy, he played more snaps than Matthews and later Gordon, even though Mathews and Gordon were viewed as the primary running backs. Current OC Whisenhunt was the OC for that split with Mathews in 2013. People have been saying the Chargers need to get back to that short passing game Whisenhunt installed in 2013, which was a good year for Rivers and the entire offense, but Woodhead was a huge part of that, and they are missing that element right now.

Back in 2013, Mathews and Woodhead combined for 102/794/7 receiving, with most of that being Woodhead. Gordon and Oliver currently have 18/117/1 in 4 games, which projects to 72/468/4 for the season. Huge difference.

Not saying Ekeler is as good as Woodhead, as there very few RBs as talented in the short passing game as Woodhead. But Ekeler does have 5 catches for 47 yards on 5 targets, showing that he has some potential in the passing game to go along with the talent shown on his TD run. It certainly seems that his potential could make him more useful than Oliver as a complementary back to Gordon.

Football Outsiders' DVOA is certainly not a perfect metric, but it attempts to measure value per play. Gordon as a receiver is at -6.2%; Oliver is at -63.2% ( :X ); Ekeler is at 88.7%, which is 3rd highest among 64 rated RBs, albeit on a very small sample size. 

 
Not saying Ekeler is as good as Woodhead, as there very few RBs as talented in the short passing game as Woodhead. But Ekeler does have 5 catches for 47 yards on 5 targets, showing that he has some potential in the passing game to go along with the talent shown on his TD run. It certainly seems that his potential could make him more useful than Oliver as a complementary back to Gordon.

Football Outsiders' DVOA is certainly not a perfect metric, but it attempts to measure value per play. Gordon as a receiver is at -6.2%; Oliver is at -63.2% ( :X ); Ekeler is at 88.7%, which is 3rd highest among 64 rated RBs, albeit on a very small sample size.
He looks like a very capable pass catcher to me. I think he's involvement in this offense is inevitable, especially with Oliver likely on the shelf this week. 

 
Wasn't it another regime when the Chargers used Woodhead as referenced?

Looking back at his former jobs, it does seem like Whisenhunt uses committees though...

 
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No, usually teams don't like going into a game with only 2 active Rbs which was all they had with Gordon and ekeler
Ok, so you feel he won’t jump Ekeler as the primary backup? I wouldn’t think he would but seen it before, for example CAP last year being deactivated for numerous games but when Stewart went down he became the primary back the next week. 

 
Rostered him in every league after he made the team.  NFL caliber athletes from college so small you've never heard of them who make teams ahead of two veteran RBs are worth paying a lot of attention to IMO.

And he's been electric with the ball in his hands so far (both preseason and now in real games).

Recommend picking him up if he's still available in dynos.

 
I guess I haven't seen that much of ekeler to really answer that. Plus Williams was only signed because Oliver is out this week. Oliver is the backup when healthy. Yeah I guess if Gordon goes down I don't imagine ekeler gets a full workload right away but we pretty much know what Williams is and I'm not to worried that he hurts ekelers value at all. 

 
Wasn't it another regime when the Chargers used Woodhead as referenced?

Looking back at his former jobs, it does seem like Whisenhunt uses committees though...
As I posted, Whisenhunt was the OC in 2013 when Woodhead had 76 receptions, 1084 YFS, and 8 TDs, while at the same time Mathews had 285/1255/6 rushing (7th in NFL in rushing yards). That was the definition of a committee.

Whisenhunt returned as OC last year, and the plan was to do the same with Gordon and Woodhead, but Woodhead got hurt in week 2. In week 1, he had 16 carries, 7 targets, 5 receptions, 120 YFS, and 1 TD, while Gordon had 14/57/2 rushing and 0 targets.

 
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Ok, so you feel he won’t jump Ekeler as the primary backup? I wouldn’t think he would but seen it before, for example CAP last year being deactivated for numerous games but when Stewart went down he became the primary back the next week.
I could probably name 96 more talented RBs than Williams.

 
If Gordan starts off slow and continues his low ypc,Ekeler will be a lot more involved.With the Chargers being o-4,they would probably like to see what they have in Ekeler by giving him more touches in what looks like another lost season..and maybe they rest Gordan to try and let his knee heal. Gordans knee will never be the same again(That microsurgery obviously was a failure.) . Good luck getting Ekeler cheap after this week. I have a feeling he will be A LOT more involved this week than people think..starting 0-4 will make a coach change a few things around to try and get the running game going.

 
considering dropping Conner for him... too bad pit doesn't play before LAC.  I could drop Conner as long as bell doesn't get hurt. I just have one of those suspensions where I drop a handcuff the day of the game and the starter goes down... I may drop for him following this week however. I like his opportunity

 
I have gamepass, watched his touches this season, and came away feeling pretty ambivalent towards Ekeler (as someone who has Cohen and Kamara in 0.5PPR). Is the excitement about Ekeler based on a specific play or game? college highlights? or just the general suckiness of Gordon and Oliver? Is the excitement based on dynasty? He looks like a COP/3rd down back only, and his utilization has been minimal, with one splash play. With the intense excitement of a few people here, I feel like I must be missing something.

 
I have gamepass, watched his touches this season, and came away feeling pretty ambivalent towards Ekeler (as someone who has Cohen and Kamara in 0.5PPR). Is the excitement about Ekeler based on a specific play or game? college highlights? or just the general suckiness of Gordon and Oliver? Is the excitement based on dynasty? He looks like a COP/3rd down back only, and his utilization has been minimal, with one splash play. With the intense excitement of a few people here, I feel like I must be missing something.
I'd say this.

Folks who are seeing Gordon's efficiency stats remain low think the Chargers may try to groom someone more dynamic down the road, and Ekeler is now the only player on the roster that qualifies.

He's definitely a stash-and-watch over the next few weeks, but I doubt he's a season-changer for redraft this year.

 
Agree Ekeler is a long term play. Nothing today on 3 targets and 2 carries. But one carry was at the goal line, which is interesting.

Of course, Gordon had his best half of the season in the first half.

 
Not sure eckler or Oliver would be good plays if Gordon went down as I don't think either can do even half of what Gordon usually does.  But eckler would at least be playable in a PPR.  Oliver has been hurt and awful when he has played.

The oline being junk doesn't help anybody

 
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Not sure eckler or Oliver would be good plays if Gordon went down as I don't think either can do even half of what Gordon usually does.  But eckler would at least be playable in a PPR.  Oliver has been hurt and awful when he has played.

The oline being junk doesn't help anybody
Lately Ekeler is more like twice of what Gordon is

 
Lately Ekeler is more like twice of what Gordon is
Last game he was. 

Gordon has 5 out of 7 games where he was very good.  2 out of those 5 were amazing.  

Ekeler has one good game out of 7.

Short memory I guess.  Sheesh

 
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Last game he was. 

Gordon has 5 out of 7 games where he was very good.  2 out of those 5 were amazing.  

Ekeler has one good game out of 7.

Short memory I guess.  Sheesh
Mostly joking dude.  

That said, I'm not seeing 5 games where Gordon looked good running the ball.  And since he's a RB, that is his primary job.

Seems like you must be looking more at fantasy results, as opposed to the underlying performance below the stats.

That said, I like seeing his usage in the passing game.

 
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Mostly joking dude.  

That said, I'm not seeing 5 games where Gordon looked good running the ball.  And since he's a RB, that is his primary job.

Seems like you must be looking more at fantasy results, as opposed to the underlying performance below the stats.

That said, I like seeing his usage in the passing game.
pls i watched the games.  i own chargers everywhere so im forced to.

the oline sucks balls.  he gets hit behind the line constantly.  yet he consistently performs in fantasy cause he scores tds like crazy and gets more rec than most rb.

i want ekeler to do well as it helps the offense and gets them in position to score more tds and give gordon more chances for stats. they have played denver twice now.  top 3 run def in the league.  

i bet he does better ypc moving forward.

starting this week. 

 
Anything to see here after last week?
Well, he is trending up..

Utilization: 2, 0, 1, 3, 10, 3, 11

Target Share: 6%, 0%, 3%, 5%, 14%, 6%, 15%

Snaps: 5%, 8%, 5%, 17%, 11%, 31%

How much would Ekeler share with Oliver in the event of a Gordon injury?
I'm sure there would be some type of split with Ekeler leading the way. It'd probably look similar to the way it was split between Farrow (18) and Hillman (7) initially last year; Farrow just wasn't good enough to maintain that split.

Is Ekeler 2nd string now behind Gordon? As Oliver was left off active roster last week..
Yes, Oliver was a healthy scratch last week.

 

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