Austin Ekeler doubles down on franchise tag comments, talks Saquon Barkley's deal

COSTA MESA, Calif. – As the Los Angeles Chargers concluded Day 2 of training camp on Thursday, running back Austin Ekeler doubled down on his frustrations with the state of running back contracts in the NFL, and continued the “attack” on the franchise tag.

On Wednesday, Ekeler called the franchise tag “detrimental to running backs” and “one-sided.” He also further explained his recent Zoom calls with top NFL running backs regarding the state of the market. Specifically his own contract situation, along with others who couldn’t land long-term extensions such as Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs.

After practice, Ekeler continued to go in on the franchise tag, the CBA and limiting the “control” that teams have on players.

“The [franchise tag] is in the CBA. The reason the CBA is what it is, is because we have fought and clawed and tried to continue to pull rights for ourselves as players,” Ekeler said. “You can go back to when there was no free agency, and when there was two-a-days, and now we have all these protections for ourselves. As players we have to come together and say, 'Hey, we're gonna stand up for ourselves because if we don't, we’re gonna get dragged through the dirt and we're gonna get controlled. We have to protect ourselves.'

“And how do we do that? Well, we have to come together. And when we have things that come up like [the running back situation], that's when we have to make sure we come together so we can protect ourselves.”

After its recent negotiation in 2020, the current CBA is not up to be changed until 2030, so there is not much possibility for any significant change until then. But Ekeler says there are things that can be done in the short term, to ensure that players will be ready when it’s time to renegotiate.

“There's a ton that we can do and one is controlling the narrative,” Ekeler said. “There's a lot of media trying to justify why running backs aren't getting paid. They're using these general numbers. Well, this is what the running game efficiency does, according to the passing game efficiency. But it goes deeper than that because we're not just numbers on a page. We're actual players and we all have different impacts on each team.”

Ekeler called on current events to back up his argument.

“If you look at Saquon Barkley, for instance, go into that organization and ask how crucial he is to the success of this offense, it's going to be pretty significant,” Ekeler said. “Same with Josh Jacobs and what he did last year. Tony Pollard is coming up as well. We're the only position right now that seems to be getting punished for our production. It frustrates us and so that's where we can have to go out there and put out the narrative like, 'Hey, we are actually important to these offenses.'”

This past spring, Ekeler requested a trade from the Chargers due to the lack of progress in negotiations for a contract extension. In May, Ekeler signed a revised contract extension that would keep him in L.A. for the rest of the 2023 season, along with a bundle of incentives.

With training camp now in full swing, Ekeler has put that behind him for the time being.

“When it comes down to football, we have to focus on football,” Ekeler said. “There's a time and place for all of that. I was trying to get as much value as I possibly could, was looking to have some more years with the Chargers and we went through the trade to try to find value elsewhere and they kind of shut the door on that. But they came back to the tables like, 'Hey, like, can we do something ... because I'm adding a lot of value to the team.

“So I'm very appreciative of this organization for saying, 'Look, we're not gonna do what you want to do, here's something,' and so it's a start. I'm here now. It's football now, I signed a four-year deal. So I'm locked in love being here and want to be here longer. But you know, my time for that free agency hasn't come yet.”