Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers Running Back

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new you.

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2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. Alrighty, welcome back in and this is that Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Now joining us, Austin Eckler, star running back in the NFL and he's here today on behalf of Dairy Queen. Austin, always great to see you. How you been?

Likewise, thanks for having me, man. It's been, I've been great. I've been great. How about yourself? I've been fantastic.

Can't complain. We'll talk about Dairy Queen in just a bit but how do you kind of look back at this season? It obviously was bizarre with the Chargers but how do you kind of give me your perspective of it? Yeah, a lot of learning lessons that I've learned for myself just as a leader where I need to be better and then you know just learning how you know the ugly side of NFL can play out sometimes. It's unfortunate but it's a team game and you know we experienced a team loss this year as a season and I know we're ready to bounce back everyone that was on that team and I know I'm ready to continue to go forward now. I feel like I have a little bit more that I've gone through. I feel like I have some saltiness from that and you know I'm going to do everything to not let that happen again for whatever team I'm on you know next year.

Yeah, that was the thing. I was like you said continue to go forward. It's like we don't even know where you're going to play.

We've talked about the business side of this before. You know how people are now going to try to devalue you just because of the position and then when you don't have a great season people are going to start to say up. Austin Eckler slowing down. This is what happens with running backs. Why do you still have a lot of good football left to do?

I mean that's what happens right? If you're just talking in general right if things start to trend downward you know people are going to make assumptions you know and it's up for you to prove that you hey you got to bounce back and so that's what I'm looking at right now is hey we did have a down year right affects the entire team which affects anyone going into free agency that year which happened to be me and for me I still got a lot of fire and really you know going into year eight I'm in a position where I'm looking at what's the quality of the team that I'm going into as far as how they want to use me you know how what's their offensive coordinator situation what's the running back situation for me I'm bringing fire I'm ready to go I'm ready to bounce back because yep it was a down year but it doesn't define you I don't think one year defines you especially when you've put you know an increasing role of years before that and so for me it's another time for me to go out there and actually prove that hey I'm still a dynamic player play at a high standard and be consistent in it. Austin Eckler here with us I thought that Brandon Staley should not have been brought back after the playoff choke over a year ago. The playoff choke yeah well yeah that's what it is you know yeah we showed for sure but I thought going into the season that that even though I believed in the talent the roster when you have a coach that I from a far sense a lot of people didn't believe in that that could create a messy situation is that a fair assessment did the message of Staley just not really resonate with that locker room?

No I think that's not a fair assessment at all. Why? 100 percent believed in Brandon Staley from day one and we were bought in we were bought into the message of of our our way right relationships and competition that was what Brandon Staley spoke that is what he brought to the table that is what he preached now it takes a village you know and he's been the lightning rod of all of the of all of the negativity that's gone on it's his fault it's him it's all of us we're all part of that we all put that product on the field we were all letting things that shouldn't have slip slip the standard is created by the leaders of the team and the head coach the head coach is supposed to basically guide the culture which you know they're bringing in Jim Bahrabah who I think in here is good at that type of you know leadership so that would be great but it's a village so the leadership we got to step up you know if I'm back there on the team our leadership has to step up and creating the culture of holding the standard holding people accountable because it was lacking it wasn't just Brandon Staley. Gotcha fair enough I respect that answer Austin Eckler here with us for you and I'm sure you got to think about it you like you don't know what's going to happen in the next few months but like in your gut do you feel like you played your last game with the Chargers? In my gut no I think there's definitely a possibility I could be back and that's because I think just where I've been I know their situation you know they they're looking for a running back I just moved out and so also also did Joshua Kelly who was right behind me who's backing me up this year so I don't I'm not closing any doors and so yeah for that I don't think it's I don't think it's my last game it could be absolutely but no. It's kind of funny as Austin Eckler's here with us we talked to you when the running back issue was very hot in the off season here we are in the Super Bowl you have Christian McCaffrey who some could have argued could have been the MVP of the league this year and Isaiah Pacheco that's one angry runner he is an angry runner I love watching him play. Right and you said it's a running back it's not a running back it was more of a player issue of you know letting getting guys franchised where they're not allowed to go out and actually find a fair market value for themselves and find a home of someone who is willing to give them that fair market value and these go through that negotiation process and so that's why it's a player it's not just running backs it happened to the tight ends it happened to the to the safeties it's just in general an issue that we face you know that's in our CBA unfortunately that where we can get locked in for one year take all the risk and then also get an artificial number that's already going to be your contract number and so it's just something that we don't like we won't push back because we want to give our guys opportunities to go get their contract and get a few years locked in but yeah it's it's important for us to see that we had running backs that are continuing to play at a high level young guys old guys right we have lahim at 31 having his best year you know we have christian who's going who's just in year seven you know having you know his year that he's having and so as you see you know it's not every running back but there are definitely running backs that deserve to be in a position to go and actually get themselves a new paycheck and we're going to see that coming up here with christian you know after next year who do you think wins the game on sunday no idea don't even care really i just hope it's a good game will you watch it i will absolutely watch it yeah yeah i'm not playing so here's the thing i want my guys to get through they're healthy and then also right just have a good time i want to be a good game and then everyone get through so that's why i've always liked you because you understand the business side and you also know the work that it puts in with your story to reach where you are the whole taylor swift travis kelsey thing i don't get why it annoys anyone i think it's great for football i think it's great for them individually because it seems genuine yeah it's great it's great for football you know if it's bringing viewership it's bringing new people it's bringing the culture together that's exactly what football that's why i love football when it comes to a fan side it brings people together especially with fantasy that's why i love that because it brings people together yeah so if taylor is making an impact and and their relationship is genuine which is like you said it seems like um that's great and if it brings more people together like that why are you rooting against that you know like to me that's what we need in this country is more things to bring us together and if that's going to do it and it's as simple as a relationship and showing someone on on film of like hey bringing this music and this you know football life these two individuals together then let's keep going like we should be rooting for that in my opinion absolutely what are you doing today on behalf of dairy queen yeah here with dairy queen so i mean we're talking super bowl so i mean what are we doing for the super bowl gotta have some grub you gotta have some food you know and dairy queen obviously is known for for the blizzards however right we're talking about the food side of dairy queen which they have a new item on the menu which is a super appropriate for super bowl they have the honey barbecue sauced and tossed chicken strips so we're talking some chicken chicken strips they also have burgers um and so yeah we're bringing it bringing a new menu item to you all y'all uh at your super bowl uh super bowl get together and you know grab yourself a blizzard while you're going to pick up your chicken strips as well so yeah you can never have too much food never too much drinks on a super bowl sunday um so yeah if you want to check out more make sure to check out the website check out dairyqueen.com or check out the dairy queen app as well so yeah make sure you get yourself some dq and uh yeah enjoy the last thing i'll ask you and obviously for uh this game the quarterbacks are talked about so much and i find it funny how how much people spend voicing their opinion on brock purty at this point the guy wins games that's all that matters to me but your quarterback in justin herbert he's gotten some of that criticism i still see a heck of a football player and i would want him on my team i don't know how many more quarterbacks i would take over him yeah you kind of just laugh at the conversation surrounding justin where people just go oh he's he's an overrated quarterback he's not a great quarterback it's the same look when you look at our team it's the same especially coming out for this year it's the same thing that i'm going through right now oh austin's you know how to down the whole team had a down year the whole team had a down year keenan allen popped off um so there was an outlier you know like i mean it's funny they always say he's the most underrated player there was yeah there was an outlier um you know every once i get there but when the team has a down year everyone's affected um and you know not even even keenan that he probably could have had an even better year if we were continuing to play at a higher level as as a as a culture and as a as a team together um and so luckily for justin he plays a position where he can play you know a decade and a half yeah you know for me it's it's it's shorter lived you know it's as far as the lifespan of playing running back um and so for us like looking at justin it's like like he's he's continuing to grow he's continuing to make an impact it's going to come down to more than just oh justin has to have the best career of the year of his career it's it's people around him also need to be stepping up and playing at that type of level too um and it like i said it takes a village and it takes a village to even looking at pat mahomes um like you've got to have you've got to have guys around you that you can you can at least right lean on and they continue to be consistent all the time um and then also the coaching and defense plays a factor into it too it's a whole team that that leads to the success and how someone looks you know mahomes is out there playing defense but his defense is showing up for him right and that helps helps him win games now he said he said he could be a game manager as he did against the ravens he said it and so it takes a village it takes a village and so for justin to continue to reach those new heights it's not just him you can't you can't ever put the blame in football that's why football is a great game that's why it's a tough game it's because it takes more than just a couple individuals that can carry the team it's it's so much more than that and go ahead yeah no i was just gonna say i always appreciate your time always great to see you thanks so much for coming on and doing this there he is austin eckler joining us on behalf of dairy queen a peanut butter m&m's production in a world where super bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring but the runners-up get nothing one retired cop return that's one retired quarterback read the script oh sorry one retired quarterback returns to claim what's his um that's claim a ring with diamonds made from m&m's peanut butter but you're on a roll the ring of comfort coming soon to a super bowl new you okay picture this it's friday afternoon when a thought hits you i can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or i can hop into my all-new hunday santa fe and hit the road with available h-track all-wheel drive and three-row seating my whole family can head deep into the wild conquer the weekend in the all-new hunday santa fe visit hundayusa.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details hunday there's joy in every journey 2024 santa fe available early 2024. i'm tony and this is the tony kornheiser show wow that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is so what exactly is the show about been almost 30 years and i still don't know right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world and we get weekly picks from a monkey do you really need more than that i might just tell you about my bunker game of the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream no schmutz please listen on the odyssey app wherever you get your podcasts