Player facts
- Team
Washington Commanders- Position
- Running Back
- Number
- 30
- Born
- May 17, 1995 (age 31)
- Birthplace
- Eaton, CO, USA
- Height
- 5' 10"
- Weight
- 200 lbs
- College
- Western Colorado
- Experience
- 9 seasons
- Status
- Active
Stats
2026 Offense
| CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG | FUM | LST | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Season | 7 | 28 | 4.0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 1088 | 4,793 | 4.4 | 43 | 72 | 482 | 4,314 | 9.0 | 30 | 84 | 24 | 15 |
Advanced stats
2026 season through week 6. EPA per play is the points a play added to the team’s expected score; success rate is the share of plays that kept the offense on schedule; CPOE is completion percentage over what the throws’ difficulty predicted. Rank is by EPA per play.
| Plays | EPA/play | Success | CPOE | League rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rushing | 7 carries | -0.04 | 43% | fewer than 36 plays |
Recent games
| Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Opponent | Result | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG | FUM | LST |
vs  NYG | T 27-27 OT | 3 | -1 | -0.3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |
vs  IND | L 30-13 | 4 | 29 | 7.3 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
Last 2 games. Click a game for its box score.
About
Austin Ryan Ekeler ( EHK-ler; born May 17, 1995) is an American professional football running back for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Western Colorado Mountaineers, finishing as their all-time leader in rushing yards before signing with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2017. With the Chargers, Ekeler led the NFL in touchdowns for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
From Wikipedia’s article on Austin Ekeler, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.1
Background
Early life
Ekeler was born on May 17, 1995, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and attended Eaton High School in Eaton, Colorado, where he played high school football. He was a four-year letterer and starter for the Fightin' Reds; despite being only 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) as a freshman, Ekeler rushed for 454 yards and 8 touchdowns on 70 carries. By the end of his career, Ekeler amassed 5,232 rushing yards and 71 touchdowns (39 of which came from his senior year alone) on 561 carries, averaging 9.15 yards-per-carry, with another 581 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.
Despite this performance, Ekeler was a zero-star recruit who saw little interest from any Division I school. Wyoming recruited him but never offered him a scholarship, and his only scholarship offers came from Adams State, Chadron State, Oklahoma Panhandle State, and Western Colorado. However, the first three universities wanted to switch him to the defensive side of the ball; Western Colorado was the only school to offer him at the tailback position.
College career
Ekeler attended and played college football at Western Colorado from 2013 to 2016 and is their all-time leader in rushing yards.
As a freshman, Ekeler started nine games. He led the team with 1,049 rushing yards to go along with seven rushing touchdowns. As a sophomore, he had 14 rushing touchdowns and set school records with 1,676 rushing yards, 2,093 total all-purpose yards, and 190.3 all-purpose yards per game. As a junior, he had 19 rushing touchdowns and led Division II in all-purpose yards per game with 203.9 and scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game. As a senior, he had 1,495 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.
Personal life
Ekeler's younger brother, Wyett Ekeler, played football at the University of Wyoming and was a defensive back for the Indianapolis Colts. His mother, Suzanne Ekeler, played college basketball at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Austin's biological father left the family at a young age and is currently serving a life sentence in a Nevada maximum security prison.
Ekeler established the Austin Ekeler Foundation in 2021 with a mission "to help create opportunities for people to fulfill their passions and ultimately their lives." The same year he founded the Gridiron Gaming Group as a way for sports personalities to grow their online communities by livestreaming with other athletes.
Ekeler married Melanie Wilking on May 25, 2024. They welcomed their first child, a son, on May 18, 2026.
From Wikipedia’s article on Austin Ekeler, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article.1
Commanders’ next games
Recent results
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikipediaAustin Ekeler on Wikipedia
- 2Wikimedia CommonsPhoto of Austin Ekeler