Last week, the Los Angeles Chargers granted disgruntled star running back Austin Ekeler permission to seek a trade.
Ekeler has since voiced frustration over his contract situation with the AFC West team. Ekeler is entering the final season of a four-year extension he signed with the Chargers back in the 2020 offseason.
Surely, plenty of teams will have interest in a do-it-all running back who has 3,195 yards of offense and 38 total touchdowns over his last two seasons. Though he’s known as a receiving back, Ekeler had a career-high 915 rushing yards in 2022.
At Pro Football Focus, Sam Monson chose the best landing spots for the top trade candidates. Monson mentioned the Washington Commanders as a potential landing spot but picked the Cincinnati Bengals as the best fit.
Following up on this, Kenneth Teape of NFL Network Analysis proposed a trade that would see the Commanders land Ekeler instead of the Bengals:
“Shaking that up would certainly be a surprise, but there is no denying that Austin Ekeler would be an upgrade for that group. What could it cost the Commanders to land him? An offer of (Antonio) Gibson and a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft could pique the Chargers’ interest.
While certainly not the same caliber of player, Gibson has shown a dual-threat package in his career and can be plugged right into the lineup. In the final year of his rookie contract, he would be exponentially cheaper than Austin Ekeler will be to sign to a new deal.
The Commanders would have one of the best skill position groups in the NFL. Slowing down a passing game with Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson and Curtis Samuel at wide receiver with Austin Ekeler coming out of the backfield would be a lot for opponents to handle. That amount of weapons would also enable the Commanders to see right away whether or or not Sam Howell is their long-term answer at the quarterback position.”
Indeed, the Commanders have a deep set of running backs in Brian Robinson Jr. and Antonio Gibson. But Ekeler is arguably the best receiving back in the league, and the Commanders could mostly focus on using Robinson and Gibson in the ground game.
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Ekeler has 3,727 career rushing yards and 34 touchdowns and 389 receptions for 3,448 yards and 29 receiving touchdowns. He has three seasons of over 1,000 yards of offense on his resume.
