Free Agent Frenzy! + Austin Ekeler Joins the Show

What we are all hoping for is seeing you as the featured guy. Have they kind of given you any indication what the plan is? No, we haven't had any talks as far as the future of the back field that charged yet, but it seems that Melvin is probably not going to be coming back. And, you know, it's like, okay, well, it's Justin and me right now in the room as far as, you know, guys that have consistently played. And so it might be looking to draft somebody or just use us and find somebody who knows.

As far as right now, I mean, I know I'm going to be there. Sure. I'll be doing my thing either way. Now, the feats of strength that you're always posting on Twitter, was this your way of creating extra leverage against the team? You can say that. I knew it. Because you're doing some really freaking impressive stuff, man. Right. They look at that and they're like, man, we've got to have this guy. Like, we can't have this guy.

So with the changes for the teams, the big one is going to be the quarterback change. It seems that the team will be parting ways with Philip Rivers. And right now, I mean, at least a few weeks ago, Coach Lynn was saying he has no problem starting with Tyrod Taylor as the quarterback for the team. How much time have you really gotten to work with Tyrod and kind of get that?

the, you know, the chemistry that you and Rivers have had for years? It's definitely going to be different, you know, especially coming in with Philip, because when you come into Phillips, you know, team, he just has controlled the offense. You know, he's making changes on the fly. You know, he's lined you up in different spots, and he's just very, very, I don't know, just fluid with it, I guess you would say. And he makes it works because he understands everything. So that was his offense. And really tire out how to kind of take a back seat because of that as far as, like,

you know, the leadership in the actual, like, offensive room. And so I feel like it would be different. I feel like we'll see more of Tyrod and his personality and his leadership if he is the guy. And, you know, I'm looking forward to working with him because I know he is super athletic. And, you know, I've seen his athletic ability. So, you know, I'd have confidence in him being our quarterback. But now it's just, yeah, creating that chemistry because, you know, Philip has been there for so long. So.

And my career has all been with Philip. And so it'll be my first time to have with the new quarterback. So it'll be interesting to, you know, see how we mesh and grow? And how do we convince Tyrod, if he's the guy, how do we convince him that you need more receptions than Christian McCaffrey? Right, right. I don't know about that. It was just a race. Who can have more yards? Yeah. So we... It'll be different. It'll be different because with...

with Philip, you know, he's not as mobile, so you check it down a lot. Tyrock can run a little bit, so it's definitely going to take some convincing to say, hey, I'm open over here, too. You can throw me the ball. So our focus were a fantasy football show. So I've got to ask, how much do you know about fantasy football? Have you ever played? Do you distance yourself? What do you know about the game? I used to play back in high school, but ever since then I haven't really played. I keep up with it now and then just as far as...

You know, people hit me up and tell me that I was terrible this week and they hate me or that they loved me this week and I was pretty good. So, you know, I don't necessarily keep it up on it, but other people keep me up to date for it. I was going to say, what was your social media like those first four or five weeks? Oh, yeah. The first part, actually this entire season, people were, you know, mostly giving me good comments. It was, I remember my first year and second year. It was a little mixed. But last year it was pretty solid. I feel like I did a pretty good job for it.

all these fantasy owners out there. Now, one of my best fantasy calls, I guess I got a little toot-toot here, but before the season started and with kind of the tumult that was going on with the team of Melvin, I had predicted that you were going to be a top 12 fantasy running back at the end of the year. So you came through in a big way and made me look really good. That's quite the prediction you got there, man. Nice job, for sure. Because she gave me for cheap, too.

Yes. It was fantastic. And along the way, our listeners dubbed you Awesome Echler. So we're wondering, do you have an official nickname? Are you good with us rolling with Awesome Echler? Awesome. I don't know if I would call myself Awesome Echler. I might get a couple looks, but, you know, that's fine. I want to call me that on your little face. All right. And we'll get you out of here on this one.

I got to talk about your celebration. I'm a guitar player. So your air guitar celebration is absolutely one of my favorites. And I was curious about what's the origin story? Did it just come out when you scored a touchdown? Or what's the background there? So there's a lot of different backgrounds I talk about. But the main thing is I just love listening to rock music when I'm working out and things like that, like hardcore rock. And so it's just...

the feeling that when you score touchdown. It's pretty dang hard to score touchdown in the NFL. So when I score and everyone's going crazy or cheering, booing, it's just that feeling. I feel like that I feel like that I would be a rock star, you know? It's like I feel like that's what the whole concert feels like for rock, so everyone's just going nuts. And you just out to do jamming the guitar. So I'm out there just strumming it, just rocking out. Now, I'm not sure if you know, but Dante Moncrief, his celebration was actually slapping the bass. And I'm wondering if you guys have considered forming like an air band.

We tried to at one time, but the coordination was too bad, so we discontinued that. It's going to take a little bit more coordination, but hopefully during the off season we can get something worked out. It would be fantastic. Thank you, Austin, for all of your time. Fantasy football players, they finally know the truth of how great you are as an offensive weapon, as a running back in the NFL.

So thank you so much for your time, man. And we're looking forward to next year what you can do. Absolutely. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me on. And all your fans are, make sure you pick me out. It's going to be a big one. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks, dude. Big shout out to Austin Echler. Congratulations again on the contract. He was a delightful human being to talk to. Jason, do you have any parting words for the show? Look.

This is a mega agency. Okay. It's a long free agency show. Wait, what? Did you just try and use our Megala brand and put it on to free agency? I did. And it works on paper. It did not work out. If you type it. Well, I realize that. But if you type it out, oh, man, it works. And that's, that gave me confidence to go with Megala agency. But it don't work. It don't work. No, it's terrible.

But just write it down and then apologize because you'd be like, I get it. I see what you did. It was pretty great. And then ignore me ever saying it with my words in my mouth. No, the free agency is going to continue NFL draft season right around the corner. It's continuing on schedule. There are still so many interesting free agents available that we didn't even get to talk about. Like Melvin Gordon. Robbie Anderson. I mean, like,

There are some interesting guys that are still out there. I'm sure we'll talk about them next time. Quick shout out, pristine auction. A Josh Allen jersey signed by the stallion himself. 76 bucks. Someone won that on pristineauction.com. If you're going to go there, check it out. Make a new account. Register with the code ballers. You're going to get $10 off your first purchase. That's going to do it for the show.

I'm your host, Mike the Fantasy Game Man Right. He is Jason Moore. Stay safe, everybody. Find something to do. We'll see you next week. Goodbye. For listening to another edition of the Fantasy Footballers podcast, don't forget to visit us on the web at www.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFFFballers.com.

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