Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler shares his perspective on the NFL's newly-agreed-upon CBA, and what it means for players in similar positions.
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00:00I say that your life, it played out to me kind of like a movie, you're the one that
00:06lived that life.
00:07What would you say in terms of a broad sense of how that is, how it has all unfolded?
00:12Yeah, it's kind of been my own version of our movie, like, you know, we all kind of
00:16live that but mine has been definitely a journey from, you know, a small town to a giant city
00:22kind of started, you know, in Colorado, you know, I used to, you know, build fence for
00:26a living back in the day, kind of where my work ethic, you know, started.
00:41Western came to me and they're like, hey, we want to play running back and from then
00:45on it was, that was a wrap.
00:49The like, support around the college was there, but it was just very limited, the town itself
00:54I think was like 4,000.
00:56I think that was including the students and when there was 1,000, they were like, dang,
01:00we got a good crowd here today, you know, so definitely playing for each other and for
01:04the love of the game.
01:05So even though, you know, we didn't have, you know, the most fans, it was just a beautiful
01:08place to just be able to play in, but I came in as a freshman and started and then started
01:13all four years.
01:14I mean, I couldn't have a pro day at Western because like I said, we were in the mountains
01:22and so during the pro day season, it's covered, the field's covered in about a foot of snow.
01:27I was at CU's pro day and then after CU went, ran and jumped and then they cut like 15 of
01:33us down to two.
01:34So it was just a chance for me to show like, hey, my numbers are just as good as, you know,
01:38any of these other running backs.
01:39So I always looked at my season as being like, hey, I'm starting in the role that I've created
01:46for myself.
01:47So I never like saw myself as a backup and then, you know, I went to my running back coach
01:51as well.
01:52I told him, I told him I was making the team.
01:53I said, I'm making this team coming into the season.
01:56I was anticipating, you know, Melvin being there and me having kind of a split between
02:00special teams and offense and then, you know, came back and then did my thing and proved
02:05my worth to the team and showed that, hey, I can actually play at this level and actually
02:08have a little bit of productivity.
02:11It's funny because just last year during the end of the season, I remember coach Lynn saying,
02:15he's like, hey, you're costing a little bit more next year, aren't you?
02:20And now I'm sitting here looking like I'm going to be the starter going through this year.