(Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Chargers can brag about something that not many teams can brag about.
They have one of the best young quarterbacks in the league, a very impressive wide receiver room, and also an elite running back, wreaking havoc out of the backfield.
Most teams focus solely on the passing game nowadays, and it’s hard to blame them, as the league and the rules are favoring that aspect of the game now more than ever.
That’s why the free agent market has also lost its balance, and while Chargers star Austin Ekeler recently sounded off on some backup wideouts making more money than him.
Ekeler took to the Rich Eisen show to voice his thoughts and call the league out over this market structure, citing that it doesn’t make any sense that he — who’s a bell-cow running back — makes less money than third-string wide receivers:
“If I’m looking at some of the backup receivers out here that are still making more than me, that’s going to p*** me off, right?” Ekeler said, per ProFootballTalk. “I’m a little bit like, OK, wait a minute, so you’re telling me these people are the No. 3 receivers and they’re going to make more than me? And I’m the starter? I get more carries, I touch the ball more, I have more of an impact.
Austin Ekeler: Seeing some backup WRs making more than me is going to piss me off. https://t.co/scAhIttcrE
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 14, 2023
The market for running backs has been brutal this season.
Former stars like Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, and even Dalvin Cook have struggled to get big paydays, and Saquon Barkley will most likely have to settle for a pay cut in his next deal with the New York Giants.
The biggest irony is that running backs are often more exposed to contact, and their career is usually shorter because of all the physical burden the game takes on them.
Running backs are becoming more expendable by the year, and while that’s not fair at all; it’s just the way business is handled in the league.
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