Austin Ekeler explains why he chose #commanders | BMitch & Finlay

Austin Eckler you come to town with a serious experience and a really big name I I mean the amount of touchdowns you scored in La how are you taking this new role here in DC yeah it's uh it's been welcoming to first uh start off so I really appreciate the love that the DMV area has been sharing with me and uh I'm learning the terms like DMV honestly I've been on the west coast this whole time so I'm getting acclimated uh but it nothing really changes for me in my mentality it's been the same since I was a rookie um since I was six string on the depth chart and trying to make trying to make a spot on the team it's that same mentality continue to build continue to carve out something for yourself and you do that by showing up to practice and uh creating trust within your teammates and the coaches I mean because of the success you had with the Chargers before you got here commanders fans might not realize how tough your journey was to that point I mean going back to college undrafted like can you can you give us the cliff notes vir yeah absolutely so really didn't have a lot of stock the Chargers didn't have a lot of stock in me um I was an undrafted guy like said six string on the depth chart they had a first round pick they had a bunch of other guys in front of me and for Western Colorado I went to Western Colorado so I went to division 2 school so um my my coach used to call it College you went to college you know because it was just like where's that place at right you know and um for me it was a chance to immerse myself into a new opportunity that I had and I I took it with the utmost seriousness um for me I I made it a life ore situation to my mental like I you have to you have to get this done and I was able to tap in I still am there where I tap in into my survival instincts to make sure that I'm putting everything in my power to go forward and get this job done because at the end of the day if I do that I know regardless of the result I can live with myself and the effort that I put in and I've been continuing to build myself up started at special teams and then about my fourth third fourth year started starting um and then continue to to build on my role make an impact on that team and looking to do the same thing here with all you've accomplished I I mean a lot of accomplishments you still have that mindset do you allow yourself to get comfortable I I even just thinking that just actually makes me mad like like really what do you like what do you mean get comfortable like for me it's like I have a Relentless pursuit to continue to build like I want to build stuff build myself build the people around me um build building my community and you know I've been doing that since I started out in La as well because for me I have this opportunity to go out and and put myself into a situation where I get to compete at the highest level and I me just as an individual want to be in a scenario where I have stress to go and build that can also be better for myself in the future and so I have a Relentless like I said mindset to continue to build myself and the people around me well does does last season the injuries on both ankles I mean you call it a down Year you still win over a thousand yards from scrimmage but I last year and then Chargers letting you walk in free agency does that refuel the fire re-engage those the fire the fire has never been never been dimmed out I'm I'm continuing to stay where I am um in this league you were definitely judged on your last season and yeah my last season was not up to the standard that I've set for still good it was still good from a sense of yeah you look at numbers and paper but from you know when we're actually looking at you know wins and the win call we won five games uh for myself and the standard that I've set for myself it wasn't good enough um and that's that's my expectation is to get back to that because that's where the standard is set and that's what I need to be playing at because that's what I've built my capabilities to be able to do and show uh so for me that's exactly where I'm trying to get back to if not even push that bar even higher so what does this team have then what do you see here what brought you here yeah absolutely so we first of off is the opportunity um what does that opportunity look like well we got BR Rob here we have a coach that is familiar with me and used me in the past and I've had a lot of success under um so that combination alone has been great yep Anthony Lynn um and then really now just learning more about DQ it's even more of a of a fit as far as how I think about things as far as building culture building Brotherhood working on yourself working on your fundamentals you know you're yeah you want to go and win the Super Bowl but that's not even a conversation you really have because to do that that be a result of the work that you put in together of the team that you build of the of the camaraderie of the chemistry um you know he talked about it yesterday all teams have great players and all teams are going through training camp right now but what separates teams well how close are they right how how well can they mesh with the coaches and the players and that's the stuff in between the the meetings in between right the practice field that's going to continue to to put us in a position where we're continuing to Edge oursel and get better you know DQ's is all about competition hearing you talk about the the life and death situation the inner fire it seems like you guys would mesh but for this season of work a lot of it will hinge on Jaden Daniels you you worked with a stud Young quarterback in La what do you think of Jaden so far yeah Jaden's been a stud as just as just as Herbert was uh I'm super proud of this kid so far coming in I say kid now because I'm like the old guy in the room you know it's crazy to think man you know I'm 29 still in my 20s and I'm still I'm the old guy but anyway um super proud of him and how he's been handling himself um working with uh with Marcus and I know we went out you know this summer and we were throwing together out in Oregon together and so like spending time with him he's taken initiative to to go out there and bring us together and be step into that leadership role uh showing early signs of that it's it's always hard for rookies to come in I think lead right away just because they're trying to gain the respect of the team and trying to find their way um but he's been showing signs of getting that for example we've been running a lot of choice routes moving me around he's talking to me after the play hey what do you see on this and I'm like yes that's exactly what I want to hear from from the quarterback and let's talk through the routes of hey I want you flatter here I want you you know stop here um so it's it's a process you don't just come out and and be a stud but he's on the right path to go out there and show the world what he can do and I'm excited for him it's an exciting time you've made some comments about working with Brian Robinson and then you're excited for that commentation yeah yeah yeah what does that mean for you yeah absolutely so here's the thing like as I look across the league even even in my early in my career when when you have a good tandem back back system like you go out and you guys are both balling and when they're balling this the pressure it's there's a pressure in the room because you got to you got to meet the standard and you either setting the standard or you're trying to match you depending on what the how the day is going um you're always trying to set it but sometimes you know that someone's having a better day I think um so it's it's that iron sharpen iron iron that you hear um and for us that's exactly what you want to have in the room because we talk about the fire well when you have that the fire can get enraged right you have we all have a fire in us out here in this field but when you have people that are pushing you can make can you compete then it it really is just flourishing and especially with Coach L too the way he coaches he's very particular on getting details right and understanding your assignment um and putting players in the right places to make those plays and so when you put that environment together like when you're in this running back room that we have right now it like the the cream's goingon to rise to top and you have to stay there like you got to be competing at this level it's gonna be hard for you to get playing time so every day exactly and so it's amazing to be in this type of environment that's great to hear um a couple other things I want to hit here you have embraced fantasy football in a way a lot of players don't I'm a fantasy geek I I'm old enough in high school we played fantasy football and we had to go steal the USA Today from this Deli so we could get the box scores from the whole league right um what made you like fantasy and what has been kind of your favorite moment in that world yeah absolutely um great question so for me as I've mentioned I am in Relentless pursuit to build myself but also then you know share that with the people around me in my community and as a part of that I've continued to have success on the field which has flowed over into the fantasy world you've been a fantasy star oh so exactly exactly and so you know you ask about my favorite moments I'll just knock that one out definitely the two years um where I led the league in in touchdowns 40 touchdowns two seasons 40 touchdowns two seasons pretty good those are some pretty good highlight years from the fantasy standpoint but um why I love fantasy is because of that Community it's another opportunity right for people to come together for people to be around each other for people to embrace and forget everything else and really Embrace each other whether it's through some friendly competition and stuff like that um speaking of engagement right exactly so for me I love that I love that about it like don't get me wrong it definitely has its it's you know it's dark side everything does um exactly like everything does but I embrace all of the good and U there's more good in that Community than bad so that's why I I tap into it so it's interesting I totally agree with you on regardless of what you're doing trying to build the community I I don't come to this chair from like a natural path I didn't you know what I mean like I was an insurance salesman out of college but I started a podcast and built a community and and things just get kind of kept growing yeah and one of the things you're doing now which I think is so smart is you started your own app to kind of keep that fan engagement going can you tell us about that yeah so just like the fantasy world well there's there's a world of fans out there that are just fans of just the guys the fans of the team and for me like I wanted to engage with them like I do with fantasy in the fantasy world I can just go play play Fantasy Football well what if you want to step outside of that world how do you engage with people well you can come out to training camp but then after training camp it's no show you have no access yeah like there's a half hour of autographs but then it's over ex and so I was like how could I make this efficient for players around the not only the NFL but the other sports as well and so I started my own fan engagement app called experience uh and what you can do Eck right EK eks got it k s p e r yeah exper experience experience got it like so you can do like one-onone engagements if you want to talk to me about what's going on the season you know training camp how often will you be on there uh every once in a while I get an order just depends on when I get an order that's how I've set it up so if you have a request for me you can put a request in we get other guys on there that oh yeah we have like 70 guys on right now so from pretty much all 32 teams so you can check it out my favorite one right now is that we're building is called fan mail so if you want to get something signed you can send it in through the app we'll get it signed and send it back to you that's awesome and I know people love that stuff Game Changer so check it out experience it's in the app there you go Google and apple Google and everywhere you need to all of it um all right my last one probably um how much has your life changed this year getting married leaving the West Coast like there's been a lot of a change yeah uh and from the outside looking in I think it looks like a lot of change uh but from my standpoint where I am and me going down this journey it was just the next step sure you it was just the next step that I was about to take um in my football career I just finished two two seasons uh two contracts with the Chargers all right we were kind of coming to this conflict of interest they want to do this thing I want to do something else hey The Next Step was all right going out into the world into the open market now I'm here in in the DMV area same with my marriage i' been together with Melanie for for three years absolutely love this love this woman and it was the next step was to to get married you know even with the app right we've been building this for the last three years The Next Step was to bring it out into the public um and so from the outside end looks like I'm doing a lot but I've been working on all of these things for you know the past decade right um and so it's just now getting exposure in some places where it hasn't necessarily before so you kind of see in a finished result and it seems like a lot but as I mentioned for me and just like anyone out there like you continue to push and progress in things um and it just it seems natural to go in that direction it's life life's about growth all everything you want is on the other side of hard work no doubt and my perfect example that I love to bring up is like in the weight room like people see me like oh I do a lot of weight have like this reputation for being really strong and it's like from the outside yeah looking in it looks like well he's doing a ton but like said for me I built up to this so for me it just is natural that I'm doing you know 350 pound bench reps you know it's like that's natural for me or 200 pound pull-ups um you know things like that but from the outside looking in you guys got to remember everyone has to remember there there's a journey there's a path and if you're trying to get somewhere you got to continue to push down the path and then eventually that'll seem like the next step for you you brought it up I wasn't going to bring it up what's that um and I don't know how to get here without sounding weird so just just just oh boy here we go I've covered football for a long time I've been in a lot of locker rooms yeah your abs are bananas what what exactly are you doing in the ab workout did you not just hear me did you not just hear me the 200 lb pullups well I mean it's just a combination of uh I've been working out for the last you know 15 years straight is that part of the fire that is the original fire the original Fire Within Me was getting in the weight room and when when you get in the weight room it's an opportunity where you get a push your yourself relentlessly and you get better yourself mentally mainly mentally the the the best things that you get from being in the weight room is not even the physical part the physical part is absolutely a good part but it's the capacity that you'll build mentally that you'll show up every day that you'll push yourself yourself every day and hopefully maybe even bring a friend along with you um so you get the social aspect as well and those are all transferable skills to other things in life tot and then then the ABS start to come as well right and then the rest of the body and and the fitness as well so if on the journey out there keep pushing because eventually the ABS you know will be the next step for you but if you never start the journey you'll never get there I try to lift the ABS are not anywhere close to I may have missed my window look there's diet that plays a role into it you know are you yeah no that doesn't play a role well that plays the opposite you either compound up or you compound down you know I think I can guess my trajectory ah so like we gotta we got to write the SE right here you know like look you got you got one life right it's like hey let's let's put a little part of this to take care of the vessel that you're in this life with you know all right maybe I'll uh hit you up on experience we'll work out you grab some tips man I'll give you some motiv if you want hit me up daily I I'll give you some motivation to go get in the gym thank for the next time I see you I want to see the ABS we're gonna do a comparison so I don't know I don't know about that I don't think we can put that on TV man okay okay all good thank you man this been great thank all right welcome back what do you think of my abs well I don't think it ABS wor nothing but I think that interview that interview right there was way better than you even know um that dude just sat there and relatively told everyone out there like stop looking at athletes and thinking that oh they just started right here it's a hell of a job to get where they're going so don't think it just because you're the same size you way the same you can do what they do he talks about how to take those things into his life everything he said I was in awe because I I love locked into that interview I love those type of things because people that cover it they cover it as if oh this just happens no it's a lot of BS a lot of BS you deal with a lot of stuff you put into it to get where you got to go and the mere fact that he looks at it in that way where it's just another step you know it's easy for him it's difficult for everybody else to see it just like when you watching that duck that old duck on top of the water look calm as hell look underneath the water he working his ass off you know what I'm saying and he's he's done that you watch him and that's why when you look at all the stuff that his weightlifting he brought that up right I've followed that that dude puts it in you know he doesn't just talk about it like a lot of these guys out here they got the natural size they're an athlete they just oh God bless them they can take that a little farther than what it is Believe Me sure I I mean I I totally think you're right and I think sometimes when a guy has to earn it the way Eckler did by you know undrafted he talked about being six on the depth chart came up as a special teams player eventually gets a little crack at playing like I I think the journey I mean Dan Quinn has talked about that the other day where he likes guys that have gone through some Journey um I think Zack Herz just talked about that like there's a mindset on a lot of these veteran players that are here there's no guarantee that it'll work right like there's no guarantees with anything except death and taxes but like they put together guys with a mindset that you know the phrase I love and I'm a McVey Mark and I recognize that but they attack success but it's all intentional and B when so I'm sitting there with eer as we're getting ready to do that interview and uh if you want to watch it it's on my YouTube page at JP fley DC um but I'm sitting there with Eckler to get ready for that interview and we're kind of just bsing and I didn't know like Eckler has a pretty high profile because he's been such a a you know devastating running back like he's been really good and then I know that he does the fantasy stuff and I know he's really good on television and he has a podcast and all these things right and sometimes when a guy has all that stuff when you get to sit down and talk to him you recognize like okay this dude's kind of PL planning for Life After football or or what happens next going through life or maybe his focus is in different spots that dude is just not the case that dude is so locked in on football yeah and then when he talked about his inner fire and that it's life or death for him like any question about does Eckler still have it to me was God I think God what he does like people live for a reason like to get to a point like most people go on a diet he's not doing that he's living his life getting to where he's gonna go he understands that if you do what you need to do to get to a certain point you're gonna get there but if you don't do what you need to do and like we all have this New Year's resolution everybody do it right right how many people get past January 31st still following it not many but Eckler wouldn't even think about January he wouldn't think about a New Year's resolution he just say okay that's who I want to be and this the plan I have to do to do it and he begins to follow his journey you know and then he may get to like my plan on Friday ride a bike from DC to Dewey Beach I'm not necessarily thinking about Dewey Beach I'm gonna get there because I've done the work up to now so I know I can get to this 30 something miles get across that damn bridge and then let's go for it and when I get there it'll be another one I'll find something else to go do from Pittsburgh back to DC that's is three days we'll figure it out but it's like people I I that interview I think more we got to play that again because people gotta live hear that some more stop thinking that guys were born somewhere people work to get where they're going just like you need to work to get where you want to go in whatever field you're trying to do