Pro Bowl Snub Austin Ekeler NFL's Best-Kept Secret and May Be Free-Agent Steal

It would be hard for an outstanding NFL player to fly any further under the radar than Austin Ekeler.

He plays for a Chargers team with no fanbase in a home stadium that's more like a brewpub that caters to tourists. He's listed second on the depth chart behind Melvin Gordon III, a "featured back" by virtue of the fact that he is slightly burlier than Ekeler, was a first-round draft pick and both makes and expects more money.

Ekeler, on the other hand, is an all-purpose back who accumulates lots of rushing and receiving yards but never cracks the top 10 in either category, making him easy to overlook when ranking NFL players or voting for the Pro Bowl.

If Ekeler is on your fantasy team, you probably know he is having a remarkable season: 78 catches for 892 yards and eight touchdowns as a receiver, 119 attempts for 500 yards and three scores as a rusher. Otherwise, you probably think of him as a good little role player, if you think of him at all.

Well, here's what the good little role player has been up to:

• He has more receiving yards this season than Christian McCaffery, Alvin Kamara and every other running back in the NFL.
• He also has more receiving yards this season than Zach Ertz, George Kittle, Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill. He has 18 fewer receiving yards than Odell Beckham Jr. 
• He has more receptions than Jarvis Landry, Amari Cooper, Tyler Lockett, Mike Evans, Stefon Diggs and Larry Fitzgerald. 
• He ranks ninth in scrimmage yards and eighth in combined rushing and receiving touchdowns. Among players with more than 100 touches this season, he ranks fourth in yards per touch behind Michael Thomas, DeAndre Hopkins and Julian Edelman. 
• He needs 156 receiving yards over the next two games to tie Marshall Faulk's all-time running back record of 1,048 receiving yards. 
• With just 108 receiving yards over the next two games, he can become only the fourth running back in history to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards; the others were Faulk in 1999, Lionel "Little Train" James (another Chargers all-purpose guy) in 1985 and Roger Craig in 1985. 
• He gained more than 100 rushing and 100 receiving yards during the 45-10 Chargers victory over the Jaguars in Week 14. Per Pro Football Reference, there have only been 35 100/100 games in pro football history.
• As Gilbert Manzano noted for the Orange County Register, Ekeler needed just 12 touches to achieve the double-triple, the lowest figure ever. If he can record another 100/100 game in the next two weeks, he will join Priest Holmes, Walter Payton and Brian Westbrook as the only players to have done so twice in three years.
• One more note from Manzano: Ekeler, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams could all finish the season with more than 1,000 receiving yards, making the Chargers just the fifth team in NFL history with three 1,000-yard receivers.  

Ekeler isn't having some nifty little season that only matters to fantasy gamers in point-per-reception leagues. It's a historic season for an all-purpose contributor.

Some role player. 

OK, so Ekeler was a major Pro Bowl snub. He's better than Gordon (everyone but Gordon probably realized this long ago, which is why Gordon spent his early-season holdout checking to see if he had cell phone service) and belongs in the conversation with McCaffrey and Kamara as one the NFL's most versatile running backs.

On the other hand, he plays for the Chargers, so why should anyone care?

Here's why: Ekeler is a free agent in the offseason, which means he could be playing for your team next year.

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

We know what you're thinking: Running backs don't matter, signing one to a huge contract is a bad idea because they wear down so quickly and so forth.

But as this column has reinforced several times already, Ekeler isn't exactly a running back. All-purpose backs are different, in part because they sign much more team-friendly contracts:

• The Patriots signed James White for just $12 million over three years after his heroics in Super Bowl LI;
• The Titans signed Dion Lewis away from the Patriots for $19.8 million over four years in the 2018 offseason;
• Duke Johnson Jr.'s current contract, signed when he played for the Browns in 2018, is a reported three-year, $15.6 million deal;
• Darren Sproles played nine (mostly) productive seasons for the Saints and Eagles with an average compensation of just over $3.2 million per year.

You get the idea. All-purpose backs make a fraction of what Ezekiel Elliott-types earn. They also take much less of a pounding and make major contributions in the passing game. The best all-purpose backs are more like slot receivers who sometimes run the ball than the guys who "don't matter" and have a habit of making general managers regret handing them big contracts.

In fact, a few slot receivers have cashed in recently after posting sub-Ekeler numbers.

Jamison Crowder received $28.5 million over three years from the Jets after topping out at 67 catches and 847 yards in Washington. Cole Beasley's top career stat line (75-833-5) falls just below what Ekeler has done as a receiver through 14 games, and he earned $29.9 million from the Bills in free agency. Adam Humphries parlayed a 76-816-5 stat line with the Bucs into a reported $36 million over four years from the Titans.

Ekeler is better than Lewis or Johnson. He's more like Crowder/Beasley/Humphries with bonus value as a rusher. Like Crowder (one of the few elements of the Jets offense that has worked this year) and Beasley (Josh Allen's security blanket during a playoff season), he could make a team that signs him for somewhere between all-purpose back money and slot receiver money very happy.

Imagine Ekeler in Philly, bringing some of that Brian Westbrook-Sproles magic back to the offense. Or in Pittsburgh, providing some quickness and big-play capability to a no-name backfield. Or in Seattle, diversifying an offense that is often just a little too predictable. Or in Baltimore, sliding from the slot to the backfield and back again while defenders panic over Lamar Jackson. Or as a safety valve for any team that's developing a new quarterback.

Imagine him in (ugh) New England, turning Tom Brady micro-tosses into touchdowns as Bill Belichick chuckles about how he once again snookered the whole league by acquiring a playmaker on the cheap.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Heck, the Chargers could even hold on to him, though that would require paying a running back, which isn't really their style.

Ekeler is the kind of player every offense needs: someone who can line up all over the formation, create mismatches and make it impossible for defenders to predict what's coming. Yet he's laboring in minimum-wage obscurity for a forgettable team.

Maybe Ekeler will finally get some attention if he breaks Faulk's record.

If not, he'll have to wait until free agency. He's sure to attract plenty of attention there. 

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeTanier.