Austin Ekeler's extension was for four years, 24 million, and he had 1000 receiving yards

[Icege]

Austin Ekeler
Carries: 132 (t-34th)
RushYds: 557 (34th)
RushTDs: 3 (t-33rd)
RushAvg: 4.2 (31st)
Targets: 108 (2nd)
Catches: 92 (2nd)
RecYds: 993 (2nd)
RecTDs: 8 (didn't have rankings immediately available)
RecAvg: 10.8 (didn't have rankings immediately available)

Christian McCaffrey
Carries: 287 (4th)
RushYds: 1,387 (3rd)
RushTDs: 15 (3rd)
RushAvg: 4.8 (10th)
Targets: 114 (1st)
Catches: 102 (1st)
RecYds: 1,005 (1st)
RecTDs: 4 (didn't have rankings immediately available)
RecAvg: 8.7 (didn't have rankings immediately available)

 

It is incredible how folks will conveniently dismiss a vital part of a player's game. With Cam, folks disregarded his rushing stats since he's a QB. However, when you look at those rushing stats and the impact on a team's strategy, you cannot disregard that. The same goes for McCaffrey's impact as a receiver.

And if you're someone that disregarded Cam while lauding CMC, the same goes the other way.

Let's chill with these bad hot takes pls

[Peon Awesome]

OP makes a really good point. I remember when I was watching Austin Ekeler break off 4 40+ yard rushing tds in a 6 game span, including an 84 yarder and 76 yarder, I thought to myself "I would trade half of my team for this kind of homerun back!" A 1000 yard receiver that can pull that off on the ground is special. Can CMC do that?

What do you mean that was McCaffrey? Ekeler's longest rushing td of the year was 7 yards and his 2nd longest was only 1 yard? His longest rush of any kind for the year was 35 yards? Hmm.. I don't know OP, I originally thought you were onto something but I'm not so sure anymore. It's almost as though finding someone who is that elite in both rushing and receiving is kind of hard. 

[WarHeel]

2 hours ago, MHS831 said:

Whiteface?!!!! So offensive!!!! 

(kidding--bored working on computer and thought I would derail the thread a bit)

More of a play on OP’s name and thought process.

[panthers55]

6 hours ago, bobowilson said:

Silly to compare 3 years when Ekeler was an undrafted guy who never got an opportunity to play until last year.

Last year, when Ekeler actually got his chance, he outperformed CMC as a wide receiver.

 

Silly to compare Ekeler's one year results versus CMC 3 years of results.  CMC showed in 2018 and 2019 that he could out up 1000 yard receiving and rushing totals two years in a row (yeah 2018 was close but he was held out at the end). Plus he did most of his damage with backup quarterbacks and the defense keying on him.   Ekeler had a great year, that isn't the same as CMC who is having a great career and is only getting better.

[GOOGLE JIM BOB COOTER]

7 hours ago, Borat said:

Being able to be equally productive over a larger sample is worth a lot of $$$. CMC’s per usage metrics would be even better were he splitting time.

mccaffrey’s worst output came in games when he was splitting carries. didn’t even hit 4 yards per carry in 2017 and was only marginally better than a 30 year old jonathan stewart. he was young then but running back is a position where you can and are expected to hit the ground running. your prime comes much earlier at the position. ekeler could very well see better production with more carries, like mccaffrey.

i don’t think ekeler is as good as mccaffrey overall but i would rather have ekeler on his contract. unless they’re going to have mccaffrey take on downfield routes more regularly, something i have called for since he got here, his receiving ability is being wasted. can’t imagine we will see that with teddy at quarterback but maybe this staff can convince him to look downfield more often, idk.

[KaseKlosed]

Panther fans are allergic to smart contracts. 

[KaseKlosed]

Imagine the Pats paying a running back 64 milly lol

[bobowilson]

2 hours ago, KaseKlosed said:

Imagine the Pats paying a running back 64 milly lol

The Patriots would find a guy who can replicate 85% of what CMC does, pay him 2 million dollars a year, and sign him as an undrafted free agent

 

[Rockahype]

Saying this is the worst thread ever and that the two players aren't comparable at all is silly. Ekeler is a legit receiving threat at RB and absolutely had teams making defensive changes by the end of last season. With so many people on here using CMC's receiving ability to lock in their argument for the extension how can Ekeler not be brought up?

Were teams game planning around him like they would for CMC? No sir.

Am I stoked that we will have CMC for the foreseeable future? Yes. His versatility and work ethic are unmatched in the NFL right now. 

Is it worth discussing, on an internet forum, the topic of possibly being able to replace his on field production without spending as much money? Why the f**k not? Get off your high horses.

Now for Christian...

[Rags]

Is this a high price to pay for a HB? Yes, yes it is.

Is CMac worth it? Absolutely. This is the value of an Elite Level HB. If we didn't do it, someone else will. He's 24. He'll be 28 when this contract ends. It's not like Bell or something. We're paying for what we beleive is his prime. CMac can win you games. Ekeler had not proven he can.

Is there anyone else in the immediate nfiture that will demand a contract for us that we'd Absolutely hurt to lose? Depends on how you feel about Moore, Samuel, DJax and Burns. This also won't hurt us in future free agency. 

Even if there is some merit in your CMac vs Ekeler argument -- there isn't. Even if you look solely at numbers you're wrong but Ekeler does not demand the attention, nor have the ability to still make something out of a bad situation like CMac that numbers like this don't account for -- who cares. This isn't going to damn us. Is Jacoby Brisset's contract damning the Colts?

[Borat]

20 hours ago, GOOGLE JIM BOB COOTER said:

mccaffrey’s worst output came in games when he was splitting carries. didn’t even hit 4 yards per carry in 2017 and was only marginally better than a 30 year old jonathan stewart. he was young then but running back is a position where you can and are expected to hit the ground running. your prime comes much earlier at the position. ekeler could very well see better production with more carries, like mccaffrey.

i don’t think ekeler is as good as mccaffrey overall but i would rather have ekeler on his contract. unless they’re going to have mccaffrey take on downfield routes more regularly, something i have called for since he got here, his receiving ability is being wasted. can’t imagine we will see that with teddy at quarterback but maybe this staff can convince him to look downfield more often, idk.

Latter part is 100% a fair take, but re: first part, i) I don't really think his being slightly later bloomer (perhaps to be expected, as receiving, his bread and butter, doesn't translate to the pro game as quickly) is super relevant to the contract he earned today and ii) RB productivity per usage typically goes down with volume (you're fresher as a spell back, plus the defense is less used to you and you're seeing less 'run into a wall' early down situation ), so not sure if fair to assume Eckler would become a better player automatically.

[PleaseCutStewart]

We will find out this year if Ekeler can handle a big workload without Melvin Gordon. I don't think he will be able to survive getting 20+ carries a game

[stbugs]

On 4/15/2020 at 1:39 PM, Borat said:

Latter part is 100% a fair take, but re: first part, i) I don't really think his being slightly later bloomer (perhaps to be expected, as receiving, his bread and butter, doesn't translate to the pro game as quickly) is super relevant to the contract he earned today and ii) RB productivity per usage typically goes down with volume (you're fresher as a spell back, plus the defense is less used to you and you're seeing less 'run into a wall' early down situation ), so not sure if fair to assume Eckler would become a better player automatically.

His first take is wrong. Hitting the ground running and having their best year as a rookie are two different things. Tomlinson’s worst ypc before he was 30 was his rookie year. Smith had two years under 4.0 ypc before he was 32, his rookie year and the year he was 27 and starting to trend down (after 5 years in a row of 1480+ rushing yards). Walter Payton’s worst ypc in his career was his rookie year.

There’s a lot of RBs that have great rookie years like Elliott, who also had an OL in their prime. That said there’s a bunch of all time greats that didn’t start out like gangbusters and their rookie year was their worst before they started declining.

The one thing our buddy forgot to mention was than CMC averaged 4.7 ypc in the second half when he started getting more carries (8.5 per game instead of 5 per game in games 2 through 8). If you are a fan and not posting with an agenda it was obvious that CMC adjusted to the NFL in the second half of his rookie year and took that to the next level the last two years. Throw in the fact that his OL has been bad and he’s been amazing and no GM in the NFL would rather have Ekeler nor can he carry a team with Kyle Allen or a gimpy Cam and only DJ Moore as a consistent weapon (in 2017, Funchess was the other weapon LOL).

[saX man]

One thing is for sure and that is there was something in the Denver metro area water in the mid-1990s pumping these kids out.