Why Chargers' battle for RB2 is so crucial

With Austin Ekeler placated enough with his contract situation to report to Chargers camp on Tuesday, the spotlight falls on the battle behind Ekeler for the No. 2 running back job.

That duel is between incumbent No. 2 back Joshua Kelley and second-year pro Isaiah Spiller, Los Angeles' fourth-round pick in last year's NFL Draft.

New Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore intends to marry the pass and the run. His system works better when there are two running backs capable of handling regular touches, as with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard last season for Moore in Dallas. Many teams take this approach, including San Francisco with Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell, Kansas City with Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon and New England with Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris last season.

Neither Kelley nor Spiller did much to warrant an increased number of touches in the opportunities they got last season. Spiller, at the time the third-youngest player in the NFL, was unable to capitalize on Kelley missing a month of action with a sprained MCL. But this is a new season and each has a clean slate.

Where Kelley has an advantage over Spiller is in pass protection. Ekeler was responsible for pass protection on 10.8% of his passing snaps last season, 58 total. In those snaps, Ekeler ranked 55th of 62 backs who qualified for a grade, per Pro Football Focus and fell well into the "poor" category.

Kelley, while by no means elite, was much more middle-of-the-pack in pass protection than Ekeler.

Kelley was responsible for pass protection on 24.8% of his snaps last season, ranking 15 spots higher than Ekeler. Unless Spiller shows he's a capable pass protector, Kelley is the favorite to relieve Ekeler on those snaps. If the goal is to marry the run and the pass, having as many skill sets as possible is important so as to not tip the offense's hand to the defense based on one player's presence on or off the field.

Where Spiller has advantage over Kelley has to do with the contracts in the team's running back room. Ekeler is set to walk in free agency after this season, as is Kelley. Spiller's rookie contract still has three years left. The ideal scenario for the Chargers is Spiller making enough strides in his second year to be trusted as Ekeler's replacement in 2024. Otherwise, resources must be allocated in the draft or free agency. With Los Angeles already $60.577M over the cap for 2024, the in-house option would be convenient.

But Spiller certainly faces an uphill battle. Where Kelley failed to make a blip on the radar in 2022, Spiller made even less of one. Spiller must show great improvement in areas such as blitz pickup to earn the true No. 2 running back role and prevent the team from employing a committee approach to the job. Just because Spiller is at the center of the ideal outcome for the Chargers doesn't mean he'll be handed anything he hasn't earned.

But unlike Kelley, time and money are on Spiller's side.