Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler has hinted on more than one occasion that he is frustrated with the team’s coaching staff, but he insists one recent comment he made was taken out of context.
Following the Chargers’ 31-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last weekend, Ekeler was asked if he and his teammates still have faith in head coach Brandon Staley. The reporter barely finished the question before Ekeler replied, “We have no choice, right?” Ekeler then said the team has faith and that “this what we’re riding with all the way to the end.”
You can see the exchange below at around the 45-second mark below:
— The harder you beat a man the taller he stands🇺🇸 (@SeakandDestroy) October 23, 2023
Like we see so often with social media, only a small portion of Ekeler’s response went viral after it was clipped. Ekeler was asked on Wednesday about the comment and said he believes it was taken out of context.
“I think the clip got taken out of context,” Ekeler said, via Bridget Condon of NFL Network. “It doesn’t matter how I feel, like, what matters is I have to go out and do my job. It’s my job to go play well, and then that will (in turn) make Staley look even better.”
Ekeler stopped short of throwing support behind his head coach and said it “doesn’t matter how I feel about it.”
“What matters is I have to go execute. And if I don’t feel like I did that at a high level, I can’t think about anything besides that,” the veteran added. “And so that’s where I’m coming from, where it’s like, how do you feel about Staley? I don’t have an opinion about that. Because I gotta make sure I do my job first.”
While the clip that went viral may have been unfair, it definitely seemed like Ekeler was sending a message with his “we have no choice” remark. He could have easily just said the team believes in Staley. Also keep in mind that Ekeler has been openly critical of the Chargers’ coaching in the past.
The Chargers fell to 2-4 with their loss to Kansas City. There was talk of Staley being fired following L.A.’s meltdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs last season, so the coach will almost certainly be out if the losing continues.
