Austin Ekeler 2019 Outlook

[Fantasy Gooroo]

10 minutes ago, Dexter75 said:

All these people predicting Gordon will be some bell cow while Ekeler, the current fantasy RB leader, will be some barely used bench fodder are funny. Look what’s happening in Dallas with Zeke and Pollard. The bell cow days are O-V-E-R. Zeke is more of a beast than Gordon, he’s been far more healthy in his career and he’s been a top 3 back every year, aside from the suspension year, but he still finished 9th. Even Zeke is having his role reduced so he’s not run into the ground. Lynn has already said Ekeler and Jackson will have a major role going forward. Gordon is the starter of course and will see the most work, but Ekeler and even Jackson will be involved. This will be a RBBC, just like pretty much every other team now employs, say hello to the new NFL. 

The denial is strong in this one. Bro, the head coach has already come out and said Gordon is the number one alpha back in LA. What more do you need? If receiving 30 percent or fewer (Jackson still needs to eat) of the carries means RBBC, then you are correct. Maybe that is the new definition of RBBC. In the old days, it meant 50/50. That is NOT what we have here contrary to what Ekeler hopefuls are cooking up. I will gladly take the 60 percent side of that RBBC to a championship. Enjoy the remaining scraps. And I say that in the nicest way. Ekeler owners should be able to fantasize about Ekeler retaining the bellcow role and Melvin taking a back seat or splitting carries 50/50 even after he is up to speed. Do you hate on the Mega Millions player? No! The dream is everything! Even though the math doesn’t support it... enjoy man. Ekeler will finish 50/50 with Gordon!!!

Edited September 28, 2019 by Fantasy Gooroo

[Dexter75]

6 minutes ago, Fantasy Gooroo said:

The denial is strong in this one. Bro, the head coach has already come out and said Gordon is the number one alpha back in LA. What more do you need? If receiving 30 percent or fewer (Jackson still needs to eat) of the carries means RBBC, then you are correct. Maybe that is the new definition of RBBC. In the old days, it meant 50/50. That is NOT what we have here contrary to what Ekeler hopefuls are cooking up. I will gladly take the 60 percent side of that RBBC to a championship. Enjoy the remaining scraps. And I say that in the nicest way. Ekeler owners should be able to fantasize about Ekeler retaining the bellcow role and Melvin taking a back seat or splitting carries 50/50 even after he is up to speed. Do you hate on the Mega Millions player? No! The dream is everything! Even though the math doesn’t support it... enjoy man. Ekeler will finish 50/50 with Gordon!!!

 

If the lead back is seeing less than 75% of touches and there are two more backs behind him seeing action, that’s a RBBC. When did the 3rd string RB ever see the field in years past? It happens on a weekly basis now. Only teams that don’t play a RBBC now are NY Giants, Carolina and Dallas up until last week. Even that’s changing there. Welcome to the new NFL. 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Dexter75

[itsalock19]

There is no way Ekeler is playing less than 30% this year. I see him staying near 40% throughout the season. I would consider him an RB2 in PPR formats as he does not need a lot of work to be very productive. The major hit he will take with Gordon back is splitting the receiving game with him. The time share does not concern me at all.

[Ryansm11]

Lmao this might be my favorite thread. Ekeler will go back to his 6-8 touches a game and is barely a flex play after this week. Best of luck. 

[youngrice]

4 minutes ago, Dexter75 said:

 

If the lead back is seeing less than 75% of touches and there are two more backs behind him seeing action, that’s a RBBC. When did the 3rd string RB ever see the field in years past? It happens on a weekly basis now. Only teams that don’t play a RBBC now are NY Giants, Carolina and Dallas up until last week. Even that’s changing there. Welcome to the new NFL. 

Any RB that get 20 or more touches weekly is not in a RBBC

[KennyWoo]

It'll take a couple of weeks for Gordon to get back to full steam but I do not understand all the optimism here at all.  Of course Ekeler has huge upside if Gordon gets injured but to say Ekeler is an RB2 or has a high ceiling or high floor even with Gordon going forward is Pollyannish.  I'm going to hold him of course but after this week I doubt I'll be starting him. We got a great month out of him. Let's just be thankful for that. 

[Fantasy Gooroo]

What do you expect in an Ekeler thread? What do you expect his owners to say? If anyone is surprised by the optimism in here, shame on you. Continue to hope Ekeler owners. I’m in your corner. 

[Golden Spikes]

Charger fan here

Ekeler is the 3rd best offensive weapon they have, I think hes a great buy low after this week

Henry out, Mike Williams out, Benjamin out, Ekeler will be playing the slot ALOT

[Impreza178]

15 minutes ago, KennyWoo said:

It'll take a couple of weeks for Gordon to get back to full steam but I do not understand all the optimism here at all.  Of course Ekeler has huge upside if Gordon gets injured but to say Ekeler is an RB2 or has a high ceiling or high floor even with Gordon going forward is Pollyannish.  I'm going to hold him of course but after this week I doubt I'll be starting him. We got a great month out of him. Let's just be thankful for that. 

 

Kudos for slipping in “Pollyannish” lol

 

anyone who thinks Ekeker doesn’t have a flex floor and rb1 ceiling splitting snaps...just hasn’t been paying attention.  

 

60/40 Gordon/Ekeler is about the easiest call in the world.  

[BGDDYKWL]

Anyone who thinks this will be a committee is fooling themselves. Gordon will pick up right where he left off from last year, as will Ekeler. He'll be an ok flex during bye weeks, nothing more. 

[Dexter75]

18 minutes ago, BGDDYKWL said:

Anyone who thinks this will be a committee is fooling themselves. Gordon will pick up right where he left off from last year, as will Ekeler. He'll be an ok flex during bye weeks, nothing more. 

 

and you know this how? Gordon only played 12 games last year and missed weeks 13-15. The last time we saw him in weeks 16 and 17, he was a miserable 12 for 41 (3.4 YPC) and 10 for 42 (4.2 YPC) with 3 for 13 and 3 for 24 receiving respectively with only one TD. He looked nothing like early season Gordon and he hasn't been on a field or seen any real action in close to a year. Anyone who thinks Gordon is going to just waltz back in and become a bell cow putting up monster numbers is fooling themselves. The Chargers have had a real chance to see what they have in Ekeler and Jackson the last month and realized both are valuable and will have a major role on this team. Sorry Gordon owners, he blew it with that holdout. 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Dexter75

[miasma16]

1 hour ago, Dexter75 said:

All these people predicting Gordon will be some bell cow while Ekeler, the current fantasy RB leader, will be some barely used bench fodder are funny. Look what’s happening in Dallas with Zeke and Pollard. The bell cow days are O-V-E-R. Zeke is more of a beast than Gordon, he’s been far more healthy in his career and he’s been a top 3 back every year, aside from the suspension year, but he still finished 9th. Even Zeke is having his role reduced so he’s not run into the ground. Lynn has already said Ekeler and Jackson will have a major role going forward. Gordon is the starter of course and will see the most work, but Ekeler and even Jackson will be involved. This will be a RBBC, just like pretty much every other team now employs, say hello to the new NFL. 

Cowboys beat the Giants by 18 and the Dolphins by 25. In their closest game, Week 2, Zeke got 76% of the snaps. This isn't a valid argument.

What I said above is what will likely happen. Gordon will get average to above-average snaps for a back, and Ekeler will still be usable in fantasy leagues despite it.

[miasma16]

33 minutes ago, BGDDYKWL said:

Anyone who thinks this will be a committee is fooling themselves. Gordon will pick up right where he left off from last year, as will Ekeler. He'll be an ok flex during bye weeks, nothing more. 

Except as I just posted with actual facts, he was a flex in 14 games last year in standard leagues.

Edited September 28, 2019 by miasma16

[The Gridiron Assassin]

Trading him is a bad idea, he will still get run, he's just now a flex piece and high end cuff instead of RB1/2 each week. 

 

Sit on RB lotto tickets on wire, use Ekeler has deemed necessary. 

[JE7HorseGod]

Last season he had 954 total yards and 6 TDs, he was good for RB25 in PPR and only started a couple games with Gordon being injured.

Gordon by the way has one season out of 4 where he hasn't missed a game due to injury.

If he's a flex play in a .5 PPR or a full PPR I certainly think you could do worse.  If he's a potential bye week fill in, I think you're in a lot better spot than most, particularly if Gordon gets injured as he has been wont to do after missing two months of football practices.

But hey guys, if you feel like you have to poo poo in the Ekeler thread to make yourself more hyped about MGIII, do you baby.  No skin off my nose.

[SharkSwimmer]

Ekeler should be well more than just fine for this week.  It's another smash spot for Ekeler.  After that, he will probably gradually lose work to Melvin Gordon, but has proved himself to his coaching staff at this point.  Ekeler is the future imo.  So he will still get run, even when Melvin Gordon is all the way back up to speed.  RB2 in ppr.

[tonycpsu]

[Posts removed.  It's fine to discuss the potential split between Ekeler and other RBs in the Chargers backfield here, but if you want to engage in a more general discussion about the changing RB landscape, "bellcow" / "feature back" / "RB by committee" issues, etc., then that needs to go elsewhere.  Applying arbitrary percentage thresholds to label particular RBs is not a productive direction for this thread to go.]

[BGDDYKWL]

6 hours ago, Dexter75 said:

 

and you know this how? Gordon only played 12 games last year and missed weeks 13-15. The last time we saw him in weeks 16 and 17, he was a miserable 12 for 41 (3.4 YPC) and 10 for 42 (4.2 YPC) with 3 for 13 and 3 for 24 receiving respectively with only one TD. He looked nothing like early season Gordon and he hasn't been on a field or seen any real action in close to a year. Anyone who thinks Gordon is going to just waltz back in and become a bell cow putting up monster numbers is fooling themselves. The Chargers have had a real chance to see what they have in Ekeler and Jackson the last month and realized both are valuable and will have a major role on this team. Sorry Gordon owners, he blew it with that holdout. 

Between this and the McCoy thread I'm beginning to wonder if you're serious with this stuff. Gordon is the vastly superior player, which is why he's always been the guy and Ekeler has always been behind him. You reference two weeks last year after injury where he likely wasn't 100%. By all accounts he is now, which means things will go right back to how they were. How do I know this? Simple really. He's flat out better than Ekeler. 

[devaster]

Just now, BGDDYKWL said:

Between this and the McCoy thread I'm beginning to wonder if you're serious with this stuff. Gordon is the vastly superior player, which is why he's always been the guy and Ekeler has always been behind him. You reference two weeks last year after injury where he likely wasn't 100%. By all accounts he is now, which means things will go right back to how they were. How do I know this? Simple really. He's flat out better than Ekeler. 

Even when they were both healthy last season Ekeler was putting up flex numbers in PPR leagues. Ekeler was also doing that two seasons ago behind Gordon. That won't change.

[BGDDYKWL]

6 hours ago, miasma16 said:

Except as I just posted with actual facts, he was a flex in 14 games last year in standard leagues.

10-team? He's certainly flex worthy in 12 or 16. And most leagues are full PPR these days. Now that doesn't hurt him TOO much, but still gives an edge to a WR. Let's put it this way, outside of teams who lost Gordon, I don't think too many championships were won with Ekeler in the lineup. 

[BGDDYKWL]

1 minute ago, devaster said:

Even when they were both healthy last season Ekeler was putting up flex numbers in PPR leagues. Ekeler was also doing that two seasons ago behind Gordon. That won't change.

I'm not thrilled with Ekeler at my flex in a 10-team PPR league. I mean this week, sure. And I'm not saying he's an awful flex, but if you look at the best teams in your league they'll have a better flex than Ekeler. 

[miasma16]

2 minutes ago, BGDDYKWL said:

10-team? He's certainly flex worthy in 12 or 16. And most leagues are full PPR these days.

12-team leagues are standard depth, and he was better in PPR.

1 minute ago, BGDDYKWL said:

if you look at the best teams in your league they'll have a better flex than Ekeler. 

Strawman. I said he had flex value last year. He had flex value last year.

[BGDDYKWL]

5 minutes ago, miasma16 said:

12-team leagues are standard depth, and he was better in PPR.

Strawman. I said he had flex value last year. He had flex value last year.

Ok well mine is 10, so that can definitely make a difference. In a 10-teamer he was a weak flex last year. It's not strawman at all. There are good flexes and bad flexes. We're trying to win leagues here. CMC is a RB1 and so is Chubb, doesn't mean they're equal. Sure some lineups flexed Ekeler last year, but not the good ones. 

[miasma16]

12 minutes ago, BGDDYKWL said:

Ok well mine is 10, so that can definitely make a difference. In a 10-teamer he was a weak flex last year. It's not strawman at all. There are good flexes and bad flexes. We're trying to win leagues here. CMC is a RB1 and so is Chubb, doesn't mean they're equal. Sure some lineups flexed Ekeler last year, but not the good ones. 

20 minutes ago, miasma16 said:

I said he had flex value last year. He had flex value last year.

 

[Dexter75]

47 minutes ago, BGDDYKWL said:

Between this and the McCoy thread I'm beginning to wonder if you're serious with this stuff. Gordon is the vastly superior player, which is why he's always been the guy and Ekeler has always been behind him. You reference two weeks last year after injury where he likely wasn't 100%. By all accounts he is now, which means things will go right back to how they were. How do I know this? Simple really. He's flat out better than Ekeler. 

 

No one is arguing Ekeler is a better player than Gordon. What we are pushing back on is the fantasy Gordon owners have of him becoming some bell cow who's going to be getting 90% of the touches while Ekeler becomes bench fodder. All we can go on is the last time we saw Gordon, and he was below average last time we saw him while Ekeler has been one of the best RBs in the league this year. You have no way of knowing if Gordon is fully recovered from his MCL sprain or not and practice tells us nothing, he's not taking real hits and going full speed in practice. Ekeler will be seeing a bigger role this year and will be an RB2, flex at worst.