Austin Ekeler has been the best touchdown scorer in the entire league over the last three seasons. Ekeler has directly benefitted from a Chargers offense led by Justin Herbert as he has been able to find the endzone both in the rushing game and the passing game.
Ekeler is inching closer to the age of 30, though, and he is understandably starting to slow down. Thirty is typically a death sentence for a running back's NFL career and Chargers fans have noticed Ekeler's quality as a between-the-tackles runner decrease over the last two years.
Because of his fantasy football impact, most casual NFL fans may not realize that Ekeler is taking a step backward as a rusher. Thankfully, Ekeler provided the most hilarious rushing clip of the season against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday and it is very obvious why he is "slowing down" as a runner.
Austin Ekeler moving like a fullback? pic.twitter.com/mIftAJzGn5
— Nico (@elitetakes_) November 19, 2023
That, quite literally, may have been the slowest 37-yard run I have ever seen. Hats off to Ekeler for staying on his feet after being hit at the line of scrimmage but if he had any kind of juice in those legs he would have taken that carry to the house for his fantasy owners.
Austin Ekeker's sloth-like run takes the NFL world by storm
To be fair to Ekeler, a few things are working against him in this specific instance. First of all, the grass at Lambeau Field looks to be an absolute slog to the point where the Chargers made it an emphasis in the pre-game preparation before the game.
In addition to that, Ekeler also suffered a high ankle sprain early in the season that is probably still slowing him down. While he is healthy enough to play, it isn't unheard of for an ankle sprain to still be impacting a playing just two months later.
But at the end of the day, this one hilarious slow play is kind of indicative of who Ekeler is at this point in his career. There is a reason why the Chargers didn't want to extend him past the 2023 season and this hilariously slow run shows why,
Ekeler, as great as he has been in recent years, is noticeably slowing down. This play against the Packers might be the biggest eye-opener of all.
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