It’s never good when a player goes down in the open field with no one anywhere near him. In the 4th quarter of the Thursday Night Football game against the Packers, Commanders’ RB Austin Ekeler dropped in the open field, holding his right lower leg. Team Athletic Trainers helped him to the sideline, and he was quickly carted to the locker room. This morning, the Commanders confirmed they believe Ekeler tore his Achilles and will undergo an MRI to confirm. According to ESPN, Ekeler was rostered in 86% of fantasy leagues, likely as RB depth or a flex option.
A torn Achilles is a significant injury, particularly for a running back like 30-year-old Austin Ekeler. The Achilles tendon attaches the calf muscles to the bottom of the foot. Without the Achilles, the calf muscles cannot provide the strength for the foot and ankle to push off the turf. Footage of Ekeler’s injury shows a classic example of how an Achilles tendon tear happens: as he transitions from backpedalling to pushing off into a sprint, his back foot drives hard into the turf. The force of that push-off was higher than the strength of the Achilles tendon, causing the tendon to rupture. Many athletes describe hearing a “pop” and feeling as if they’d been kicked in the back of the leg. The most common location of an Achilles rupture is in the middle of the tendon, about 1-2 inches above the heel bone.
Achilles tendon tears can be treated without surgery by putting the athlete in a walking boot with a wedge under their heel and slowly removing layers of the wedge as the tendon heals. This treatment option is a long recovery, and there are concerns about the strength of the healed tendon for aggressive activity like playing football.
The more common treatment option for elite athletes is surgical repair, which involves stitching the torn ends of the tendon back together. Rehabilitation after surgical repair is a long process, meaning we won’t be seeing Ekeler again this season. In fact, there may be questions about whether we see him back at all. Looking at the analytics for other running backs after Achilles tendon rupture, only about 45% of RBs make it back to play in the NFL, and those who make it back tend to see a drop in on-field production.
To sum it up, this season is likely a write-off for Ekeler, and at 30 years old, his return to the NFL is in question. For a team that was playing running back by committee with Ekeler and rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Croskey-Merritt’s value just bumped up as he will likely be seeing a much larger workload in the coming weeks. We will see how the rookie stands up to the challenge.
1. Barton D, Manoharan A, Khwaja A, Sorenson J, Taylor M. Return to Play Following Achilles Tendon Rupture in NFL Players Based on Position. Foot & Ankle Specialist. 2021;16(4):427-436. doi:10.1177/19386400211040351
2. Jack RA, Sochacki KR, Gardner SS, et al. Performance and Return to Sport After Achilles Tendon Repair in National Football League Players. Foot & Ankle International.2017;38(10):1092-1099. doi:10.1177/1071100717718131
