Austin Ekeler is one of the more present media personalities in the NFL. He has taken the rare step of doing fantasy football content on top of regular football analysis. But he might question that career choice after his relatively quiet return to the Chargers in Week Six led to his own victory against his Yahoo podcast cohost Matt Harmon.
Ekeler may have earned the W in fantasy and bragging rights over his podcast partner, but it came at the cost of a Chargers L and a frustrating return to the field for the star running back. Brutal.
https://twitter.com/YahooFantasy/status/1714124071565210083
https://twitter.com/MattHarmon_BYB/status/1714120990588829914
Ekeler tallied just 62 total yards on 18 touches as Los Angeles was held to 272 yards as a team. Using Ekeler and Harmon’s quiet scoring system, Ekeler only put up 8.2 fantasy points.
To make matters worse, Ekeler also got into a dust-up with Cowboys players pregame and was punched in the face by Dante Fowler Jr.
The ESPN #MNF broadcast begins with a good look at the Cowboys-Chargers pregame fight (led by Dante Fowler Jr. hitting Austin Ekeler in the face). pic.twitter.com/gzimuGQcsc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 17, 2023
Ekeler missed the past month with an ankle injury. He is in the final year of his contract and pushing for a new deal with the Chargers.
At the same time, he has remained very public-facing, creating football content. Ekeler is a gamer and streamer. He also joins God Bless Football for Meadowlark Media each week and hosts Ekeler’s Edge for Yahoo with Harmon weekly.
Ekeler is outside the top 30 among fantasy running backs this year after going near the top of most drafts. He will look to get back on track in Week 7 in a division battle in Kansas City.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.