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RB: Austin Ekeler - WAS






We all have those fantasy players that hold a special place in our hearts, and Austin Ekeler is one of those guys for me. Prior to his 2021 breakout, I used the DRB to call a potential top-10 season, and for those of you that invested in him, you were greatly rewarded. I'm always going to remember Austin Ekeler for that, but I have to put those emotions aside and realize that when you reach your age 29 season and you've seen a consistent dip in production over the last couple of years, it may be time to just back off and say Austin Ekeler doesn't have it like he used to.


One stat that I'm always keeping an eye on for efficiency is yards after contact per attempt. Over the course of Austin Ekeler's six years in the league, it has dropped every single year. It went from 3.3 yards after contact per attempt in his rookie season to only 1.7 last year. While his broken tackles per attempt number did get better in 2023, it was still the second-lowest number of his career.


Now, Austin Ekeler isn't the RB1 on his team anymore. He's got Brian Robinson there. At worst, we're probably looking at a 50/50 split between these two running backs, and that's not a bad thing for Washington in a football sense. Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler are actually really good complements to each other and could make this offense very good, making the growth process for Jaden Daniels a lot easier. But from a fantasy football standpoint, it's going to make things difficult. Austin Ekeler is likely going to see the majority of his work in the passing game, while Brian Robinson will probably be used primarily on the ground. Maybe they do ride the hot hand every once in a while, but I doubt we'll see any type of commitment to just one of these running backs.


Austin Ekeler really becomes viable if Brian Robinson misses time. If you're investing in Austin Ekeler to be like an RB3 on your team, you can probably get away with that. And if Brian Robinson misses time, you're probably going to be okay utilizing him as an RB2. But I'm not investing in Austin Ekeler to be a main cog in my fantasy lineup. You have to find other guys for that, and any upside that we get above and beyond is just icing on the cake.

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