Fantasy Football: 5 potential team fits that could keep Austin Ekeler an RB1 in 2024

The 2023 season has not been good to Austin Ekeler or his fantasy football owners and it has opened up the lines for many questions to be asked regarding his future.

Though Ekeler has been one of the most productive fantasy football running backs over the last handful of seasons, it does seem as though he has hit a wall in 2023. Before the season, he was looking for more money or asking the Los Angeles Chargers to trade him.

The two sides agreed to a re-worked deal that included Ekeler having the chance to earn an extra $2 million in incentives, but because of the way this season has gone, he is not on pace to hit any of those.

In addition, Ekeler is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and he could be looking for a new opportunity. However, there are several factors working against that being a good thing.

Ekeler will turn 29 years old before the start of next season, quickly approaching the dreaded 30-year mark where a good percentage of running backs fall off at or never even make it to. There is also the fact that running backs just are not getting paid like they used to. When you add in this list of running backs who will also be free agents looking for new deals, you have to wonder how things will go for Ekeler.

Saquon Barkley
Derrick Henry
D'Andre Swift
Tony Pollard
Devin Singletary
Dalvin Cook

However, for fantasy owners, particularly those in dynasty or keeper leagues, Ekeler is an incredibly fun player to have on your team, especially if you follow him on social media and know how much he embraces the game of fantasy football.

For those owners, these four teams could help Ekeler stay as an RB1 in fantasy for at least a couple more seasons. And to be clear, he can still be an RB1 in a shared backfield.