Austin Ekeler Fantasy Value Could Take Hit Following Huge Game From Melvin Gordon in Week 9

Austin Ekeler started off the 2019 fantasy season as a star. In fact, through the first few games of the year, Ekeler was actually the No. 1 fantasy running back. He accomplished all of this while the Chargers usual starting running back, Melvin Gordon, was holding out over a contract dispute with the team.

Gordon has since returned, but he hadn't really turned in the big performances we've seen form him in the past, until the Week 9 game against the Green Bay Packers. Prior to Week 9, Gordon's highest scoring output from a fantasy perspective was 10.4 points through his first four games.

Melvin Gordon Fantasy Outlook

Sunday, Gordon put up 24.4 fantasy points (0.5 PPR scoring) in an impressive win. While Ekeler didn't have a bad day, and hasn't been rendered useless since Gordon made his return, the latter's big day could change things moving forward.

Ekeler finished the day with 11.3 fantasy points, 70 rushing yards, 23 receiving yards and four receptions. A respectable day, but nowhere near the volume he was getting early in the season.

If the Chargers can now comfortably rely on Gordon to have performances closer to this one in the future, it might relegate Ekeler to even more of a passing down back than he already is.

It should also be noted that the Chargers operated under their new offensive coordinator this week, Shane Steichen, following the firing of Ken Whisenhunt. It's still to be determined if play calling will continue to favor Gordon under Steichen, but it's definitely something to monitor closely in the coming weeks.

Ekeler should still have some breakout games the rest of the way, but Gordon's success might hinder his ceiling in the back half of the season.

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David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.