Chargers running back Austin Ekeler got permission to seek out a trade to a team willing to give him a new contract in March, but nothing materialized ahead of the draft and it doesn’t sound like any deal is imminent now that the draft is over.
General Manager Tom Telesco was asked where things stood with Ekeler during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show and he said that it’s been status quo on both the trade and contract fronts.
“Nothing’s changed,” Telesco said. “His situation is unique. I completely understand that, which is why we kind of allowed them to kind of look and see if there was something out there available. We had no intent, no interest of trading him, but, fully knowing his situation, said go ahead and do it.”
Telesco said that “there is definitely a point in everyone’s career that you feel you’re not being compensated appropriately” whether you’re a football player or not. He recounted renegotiating his contract with the Colts earlier in his career and then-Colts G.M. Bill Polian offering him a salary lower than he was hoping to get. Telesco said that he now understands “there’s just so many factors that go into someone’s salary that it is not always a reflection of how they feel about you as a person.”
That anecdote may be of little solace to Ekeler as he enters his seventh season as an NFL running back, but the lack of movement on either front makes it likely that he’ll have to play out this season before getting a new deal from the Chargers or anyone else.