National Football League

Chargers' Austin Ekeler organizes running back Zoom call

Published Jul. 22, 2023 5:48 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Chargers star Austin Ekeler is among the NFL running backs displeased with the trend of players at said position struggling to get top-flight contracts, and he plans to do something about it.

Ekeler has organized a Zoom call with fellow NFL running backs to discuss their position's current market, ProFootballTalk reported Saturday. The meeting will reportedly take place on Saturday night.

This reported Zoom call comes in the wake of prominent running backs receiving underwhelming contracts in recent memory, specifically Saquon Barkley (New York Giants) and Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas Raiders) being unable to reach long-term deals with their respective teams earlier this week. Barkley and Jacobs, as well as Tony Pollard (Dallas Cowboys), had the $10.1 million running back franchise tag placed on them in March, and Barkley and Jacobs are not expected to report to team headquarters for the foreseeable future.

Alvin Kamara (five-year, $75 million deal with the New Orleans Saints), Christian McCaffrey (four-year, $64.1 million deal with the San Francisco 49ers), Derrick Henry (four-year, $50 million deal with the Tennessee Titans), Aaron Jones (four-year, $48 million deal with the Green Bay Packers) and Nick Chubb (three-year, $36.6 million deal with the Cleveland Browns) have the largest contracts among running backs.

For perspective, Kamara's and McCaffrey's aforementioned deals were signed in 2020, while Jones' and Chubb's new deals came in 2021.

Miles Sanders, who ran for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns on 4.9 yards per carry for the Philadelphia Eagles last season, was the highest-paid running back on the free-agent market this offseason, inking just a four-year, $25.4 million deal with the Carolina Panthers.

Several backs took to Twitter earlier in the week to express frustration about the lack of financial value that teams have been placing on running backs.

Ekeler, who totaled 1,637 combined yards from scrimmage last season, requested a trade from the Chargers in March, as the two sides haven't been able to hammer out a new deal. The 28-year-old back is a free agent after the 2023 NFL season.

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