12:50pm: Michel’s visit went well. He will indeed ink a deal with the Chargers, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. While several vets are signing to teams’ practice squads Wednesday, this is an active-roster agreement for Michel.
9:02am: A clear-cut Austin Ekeler backup did not emerge during the Chargers’ preseason slate. The Dolphins may be delivering one.
After failing to make Miami’s 53-man roster, Michel will meet with the Bolts on Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Michel spent the 2021 season in Los Angeles, leading the Rams in rushing. Although Michel’s Dolphins training camp injects some doubt into his 2022 capabilities, the former Patriots first-rounder has led two Super Bowl-winning teams in rushing.
Michel, 27, has battled knee issues during a pro career that has seldom seen him flash the potential he showed at Georgia. Nevertheless, the 2018 first-round pick produced two 900-yard rushing seasons in New England and added 845 in L.A. last season. The Rams acquired Michel via trade last year, following Cam Akers‘ ACL tear, and the late-summer addition outproduced Darrell Henderson in 2021.
The Rams pivoted back to Akers after his late-season return from the Achilles tear, leaving Michel (4.1 yards per carry in 2021) without much of a postseason role, and opted not to bring the veteran back in free agency. Michel signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal and pocketed $850K guaranteed with Miami but saw holdovers Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed beat him out for a role alongside Chase Edmonds and Raheem Mostert.
The Chargers kept three backs behind Ekeler — Joshua Kelley, 2021 sixth-rounder Larry Rountree and fourth-round rookie Isaiah Spiller. A Michel addition would likely send one of these backs to the waiver wire.
Ekeler stayed healthy last season, producing a 20-touchdown slate that led the league but curiously did not produce a Pro Bowl invite. But the dual-threat back missed six games in 2020, seeing a hamstring tear derail his season. Despite losing out to multiple younger backs during the Dolphins’ preseason competition, Michel could provide stability as an Ekeler backup.
Love it. Ekeler, Michel, Spiller is a great backfield
Just a heads up on Michel from a Patriots fan. HE BLOWS
Well, yeah, for a first round pick. For a rotational back off the street, he’s perfectly fine.
I guess this would be a bad time to remind Patriots fan that BB passed on Lamar to get Sony.
I’m not sure you can even convince most commenters on this site that Lamar is a good player. But yeah, that stings, as do a lot of other options. Heck, they’d have done much better taking the other running back from the same college backfield. Or I’m sure Belichick would love to have Shaquille Leonard.