The Indianapolis Colts will look to lick their wounds and play the role of spoiler when they host the Los Angeles Chargers at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday Night Football.
The Colts will be in action for the first time since blowing a 33-0 halftime lead to the Vikings, an all-time NFL blunder. They’re a mere 1-4 in the Jeff Saturday era and are turning to their third different starting quarterback of the season in Nick Foles.
Austin Ekeler and the Chargers will try to take advantage of Indy’s situation and improve their playoff standing. Check out my three favorite Austin Ekeler NFL prop picks below.
Looking for more? Check out our Chargers vs. Colts picks and our best MNF prop picks as well.
Austin Ekeler MNF prop picks
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Austin Ekeler MNF props
Ekeler wreaks havoc in passing game
When the Chargers won a surprisingly low-scoring game against the Titans in Week 15, Austin Ekeler was limited to 12 receiving yards on only two catches. However, based on his total output through the air this season, that effort should be written off as a fluke.
Ekeler is averaging 45.4 receiving yards per game in 2022 and was at 48 receiving yards per game prior to last Sunday. He’s reached the 33-yard plateau in 10 of 14 games played this year, including a streak of three such efforts prior to the Tennessee tilt. Ekeler peaked at 96 receiving yards in a losing effort against the Seahawks in Week 7.
The Colts have had a hard time preventing opposing running backs from making plays in the flat all year long, as they’ve allowed 44.1 receiving yards per game to tailbacks in 2022 – the seventh-worst mark in football. That includes the 95 receiving yards they surrendered to Dalvin Cook last week in their epic collapse against Minnesota.
Prop: Over 32.5 receiving yards (-112)
Hauling ‘em in
Since I like Ekeler to eclipse his receiving yards total, it’s only natural that I’m eyeing his receptions prop too. The juice is a little steep, but taking him to haul in five passes from Justin Herbert in this contest is appealing, particularly if it’s being thrown into a same-game parlay.
Ekeler gets targets in bulk out of the backfield, as Herbert has looked his way 115 times this year. He leads all players at his position in that department, 19 ahead of Christian McCaffrey in second place. Ekeler has caught 95 of those throws, good for an 82.5% success rate.
The West Colorado product is averaging just under 6.8 receptions per game, a number that fell from an even stronger 7.2 prior to Week 15. Considering Indy is also allowing 5.6 receptions per game to halfbacks – tied for sixth worst in the NFL – bettors should expect Ekeler to get plenty of looks down low throughout this Monday affair.
Prop: Over 4.5 receptions (-128)
Ekeler won't run amok
Though Ekeler should make his impression felt when it comes time for Los Angeles to throw – and no team in football has attempted more passes per game than them, save for the Buccaneers (44.6 to 43.2) – bettors should expect Ekeler to struggle to clear his rushing yards mark on Monday night.
Ekeler ran for 58 yards against the Titans last week but has failed to crack even 50 rushing yards in the three weeks prior to that tilt. He averaged 33.3 rushing yards per game in that span. Ekeler has reached 54 rushing yards in a game only four times in 14 chances this season.
Part of the reason why Ekeler is averaging just 49.4 rushing yards per game this year (a number that drops to 39.9 yards if you exclude his 173-yard outlier against the Browns in Week 5, which included a fluky 71-yard scamper) is lack of volume.
The Chargers’ lead runner has been allowed to rush only 11.8 times per game in 2022. Bettors shouldn’t count on head coach Brandon Staley messing with success in this spot.
Prop: Under 53.5 rushing yards (-115)
