Tiki Barber launches verbal attack on Austin Ekeler over his discouraging comments

Tiki Barber argued that the reps come as a traditional role for the running backs but Austin Ekeler denying doing that was absolutely discouraging. 

Tiki Barber launches verbal attack on Austin Ekeler over his discouraging comments

Austin Ekeler and Tiki Barber (Via Imago)

This offseason, Austin Ekeler took the bold step and made his exit from the Los Angeles Chargers– the team that hired a National Championship-winning head coach Jim Harbaugh this offseason. The running back has been quite firm on his decision to leave the team, as he revealed recently, stating his vision didn’t complement the team’s expectations. 

To Ekeler’s surprise, his statement caused quite the murmur within the industry as many believed his reason was discouraging. One of them was former All-Pro running back and now WFAN host Tiki Barber. During his recent episode of the Evan and Tiki podcast, Barber didn’t hold back from calling out Ekeler for saying, he left the Chargers where he played for seven years because they wanted him to play multiple times. 

Austin Ekeler said something the other day, which was so discouraging. He was asked about why the Jim Harbaugh-led Chargers weren’t ideal for him — or why they moved on from him. And you know what his answer was? ‘They want a guy who can run the ball 300 times a season.’ They want someone who can run the ball 300 times a season.
Tiki Barber said in reference to Austin Ekeler’s comment on Up & Adams

Host Shaun Morash then confirmed did Ekeler denied doing that, to which the former New York Giants RB replied with a firm “Yes” and added that during his playing days in the NFL, he lost count of the times he ran a ball 300 times in a season. He further argued the reps come as a traditional role for the running backs but Ekeler stating “that’s not his game” was absolutely discouraging. 

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Tiki Barber praises Christian McCaffrey’s reliability and all-round dominance

While talking on the subject, the WFAN host drew a comparison between the San Francisco 49ers star player Christian McCaffrey and Ekeler. He appreciated how McCaffrey– who is also the highest-paid running back in the league, is always on the field, reliable on third down, catches the passes from the backfield, and powerhouse it when running through the offensive lines. 

You got the Christian McCaffreys of the world, who make $19 million a year. And then you’ve got these other guys who can’t make eight. And you wonder why. The mentality has changed from an organizational standpoint.
Tiki Barber added
Christian McCaffrey
Christian McCaffrey (Via IMAGO)

Barber also spoke against the new practice of giving maintenance weeks to the players to lower their workload. He called it against the nature of gridiron, stating a player should always want to be on the football field. 

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