Austin Ekeler: Signing with Washington about sharing workload, reuniting with Anthony Lynn

Austin Ekeler's departure from Los Angeles didn't come as a surprise -- in fact, it was a foregone conclusion for some time.

His choice for his next stop, however, was interesting. Ekeler decided to leave the only team he'd known in his NFL life to the nation's capital to play for the Washington Commanders, where the veteran back will play a complementary role to the younger Brian Robinson.

As Ekeler explained it Monday, it's a role he knows well and would like to replicate alongside a familiar face in former Chargers coach (and current Commanders running backs coach) Anthony Lynn.

"Yeah, it was just an opportunity to come in and be this two-back backfield, back where I was feeling the best in my career with Melvin Gordon and I when I was going through my first contract," Ekeler explained. "That really was intriguing to me, just the philosophies, being in a room with coach Lynn as well as far as a running back coach.

"This man is an absolute guru. So just being back in a room with him I know will definitely keep me focused, keep me locked in and give me the best opportunity to push myself as a player. And so that was the opportunity and the environment I wanted to be in."

Ekeler needed a fresh start. He'd found himself embroiled in a contract dispute with a Chargers front office that was unwilling to consider a long-term future with him, and after one of the most frustrating and disappointing seasons in some time for the Chargers in 2023, it was time to move on.

He turns 29 in May, and if he needed more motivation than his ticking career clock, he appears to have found it with Lynn and in a role in which he won't have to be the sole producer in the backfield. At this stage in his career, he'll be best utilized as a