Austin Ekeler is finally being reunited with his ex-head coach Anthony Lynn. The 55-year-old was Ekeler’s head coach when they were in the LA Chargers from 2017-2020. However, soon the coach had to move teams. But now, all thanks to Washington Commanders, the two have joined forces again and Ekeler couldn’t have been more delighted.

Opening about the coach’s career and unparalleled trust in his players, Washington’s new RB came on to the Up & Adams Show and discussed being back with the coach and what makes him special. This will be Lynn’s 10 tenure. Throughout his coaching career, he’s been a special teams assistant, an RB coach, an Assistant HC, an OC, and a run game coordinator for 10 different teams.

Austin Ekeler opens up about Anthony Lynn’s personalized approach toward his players

Kay Adams congratulated Washington’s running back and asked him about his reunion with coach Anthony Lynn. Adams probed Ekeler to describe the new run game coordinator in a sentence and the RB had praises to sing about his latest run game coach.

“Being the most efficient within the scheme that can maximize your talent potential is his philosophy,” said Ekeler and added, “He [Lynn] understands that ‘Hey, there’s things that I’m going to be better at than Brian [Robinson Jr.] and vice versa, Brian better than me.’ He’s very big into which players get which plays because hey, we’re setting you up for success with this type of scheme.”

Anthony Lynn was 33-31 in his time as the Chargers HC from the 2017 season to the 2020 season. During his tenure, the Chargers won the NFC wild-card round against the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 postseason but couldn’t capitalize on the momentum. The Chargers won that game 23-17 and Ekeler had 11 carries over 29 yards in that game.

They proceeded to play against the New England Patriots in the next game, in which the Chargers lost 28-41. However, the ups and downs have deterred Lynn’s “realistic” style of coaching. Back in 2019, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport remarked, “He’s a hardened guy. He believes what he believes. He’s very tough-minded. He is not shy. So he’ll just tell you what he thinks, and it leads to a very realistic view of yourself. For players, it’s here is what I need to improve on and here’s where I need to get better.”

The long coaching tenure of Anthony Lynn

Lynn used to be a running back in the league and started his career with the Denver Broncos in 1993. The best season he’s had to date was with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played 16 games and 164 yards. However, his career in the league was spent as a backup running back who didn’t get a lot of playtimes.

Soon, the RB shifted to the technical side of the game and joined the coaching business. His journey initiated at the Broncos camp, his former team, as a special teams assistant. Eventually, he was the running back coach for the Jags, the Cowboys, the Browns, and the Jets. However, the big break came his way as the Bills HC in 2016. Alas! Soon he was demoted to OC in the same year.

After spending two years at Buffalo, he was appointed as the Chargers’ HC in 2017 and spent 4 seasons there, gaining a lot of experience and love from players and experts. After leaving the Chargers, he went to the Lions as their OC for a year, then to the Niners as their Asst. HC. Finally, Lynn signed with the Commanders this year as their run game coordinator and it remains to be seen how things will pan out for him.