Will Compton invites OLBs to Zoom Meeting for boosting pay scale after Austin Ekeler’s RB meeting ends in failure - “We are nucleus of the defense”
Unlike other running backs, Austin Ekeler currently does have a contract for the 2023 season, but he's also part of the group that believes the position isn't valued enough in the league. And he's been vocal and active about it.
After reports emerged that a group chat had been formed between the players to discuss manners to improve payments for running backs, the Los Angeles Chargers running back organized a Zoom meeting in order to discuss the problem.
But the meeting went nowhere, because since all players signed the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2020, true changes will only be possible in 2020.
There was even time for trolling the running backs for Will Compton, the former linebacker who currently hosts podcast "Bussin' With The Boys" along his former teammate Taylor Lewan.
Compton used the same arguments as Ekeler to "organize" a meeting between the off-ball linebackers:
Putting together a Zoom call for Off-The-Ball LBs
The pay gap between us & other def. position groups is getting too substantial given that we are nucleus of the defense
We are expected to cover like safeties, sacrifice our bodies in the run game like d-linemen, tell everyone… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
NFL running backs are mad with the league: what's happening?
Over the past week, it wasn't just Ekeler. Several other star players, such as Derrick Henry and Najee Harris, criticized the position's devaluation that is happening for a long time, and which has never been as strong as it was with Barkley and Jacobs' franchise tag saga.
If you look at the last championship teams, you can see that NFL franchises have a point. Good teams don't need great running backs to win titles.
The correct point of this discussion relates to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2020 and which will last until 2030. For running backs in a rookie deal, by the time he becomes a free agent and chooses his future, five years of his career could have passed - and his legs are no longer the same. Six if it's a first-round pick, considering the fifth-year option and the franchise tag.
It is clearly unfair to the players, but there's no plausible alternative to this issue until the end of the decade - at least. For now, running backs will continue to suffer from this problem because the NFL market dictates the rules beyond what the players think.
It's not fair to them, but it's how the league works.
Austin Ekeler's salary for the 2023 season
The Chargers' running back is set to make $6.25 million in 2023,