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.

Buffalo Bills

Outside of the colder weather in Western New York, this would be a terrific situation for Ekeler. He would be part of a fast, up-tempo offense with a quarterback in Josh Allen that knows how to spread the ball around.

The Bills also don't have a defined situation in the backfield. James Cook looks to be a good option for the future but Latavius Murray is aging and the other running backs on the roster are Ty Johnson and Leonard Fournette, who has yet to play a game for the team. Nyheim Hines, a player similar to Ekeler, is also there but has missed this entire season due to injury.

Ekeler would come in and be the team's starting running back right out of the gate, splitting time with Cook. He is an upgrade over Hines as a running back and could be a perfect safety-value option for Allen in the passing game as he is perhaps the best receiving back in the entire league.

Houston Texans

The Texans have Devin Singletary (who will also be a free agent) and Dameon Pierce splitting carries as part of an offense that seems to be on the verge of becoming a monster with rookie C.J. Stroud at quarterback.

If the Texans were to lose Singletary, or if they chose to sign Ekeler rather than to bring him back, he could be a seamless fit into this offense.

The Texans have a good, young team but they don't feature a go-to guy on offense. Stroud has done a great job of getting others involved and making the most of their abilities and he could help bring out what we used to see in Ekeler on a regular basis.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings land on this list as there is just no clear option in the backfield on this team. Of course, the same can be said for Los Angeles, so why wouldn't Ekeler just stay there?

This is all about finding a new opportunity. Finding a team to believe in his abilities as he's aging and have confidence in him as an every-down back. That seems to be waning with the Chargers. Of course, the Chargers could move on from head coach Brandon Staley, which could change things for Ekeler as well.

But in the case of the Vikings, they have Alexander Mattison and Ty Chandler in the backfield. They play their home games inside, which would be familiar to Ekeler as he plays home games inside SoFi Stadium.

There wouldn't be a lot of obvious reasons to go to Minnesota, but it could be a great opportunity for him due to the team's lack of proven options after moving on from Dalvin Cook this offseason.

Arizona Cardinals

When healthy, James Conner plays quite well for the Cardinals and he is younger than Ekeler. But the team does not have much in the way of a complementary back despite experimenting quite a but with the position this season.

The Cardinals have tried Keoantay Ingram, Emari Demercado, Tony Jones, Jr. and Michael Carter in that role this season. Ekeler would be a much better option than all of those guys.

The Cardinals will have a lot of questions to address this offseason when it comes to Kyler Murray and the quarterback position, particularly because of the fact that they could have a top-five pick in the draft. But a backfield combination of Conner and Ekeler could prove quite effective.

Kansas City Chiefs

Staying in the AFC West division, this would be a tremendous fit because of the way the Chiefs use their running backs.

Isiah Pacheco has become the pounder in the rushing attack, but he is capable of chipping in as a receiver too. The team also has Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon, but Ekeler would seem to be a sizeable upgrade over both of them.

Ekeler could run the ball between the tackles for this team but he would be a dangerous weapon in the passing game. And for a Chiefs team that can't seem to find the right mix of downfield options in the passing game, Ekeler could be a perfect answer.

Alex Kay of Bleacher Report feels the same, making the prediction recently that the Chiefs will be the team to sign Ekeler in 2024.