NFL: Inside info proves just how sad the league's stance on running backs is
As the NFL earns more and more revenue with a growing fanbase, new TV deals, and sponsorships with betting sportsbooks, among many, many other new money-making ideas, player salaries are supposed to go up and up. And for the most part, they are. Except for one group of players whose value is steadily declining simply […]
As the NFL earns more and more revenue with a growing fanbase, new TV deals, and sponsorships with betting sportsbooks, among many, many other new money-making ideas, player salaries are supposed to go up and up.
And for the most part, they are. Except for one group of players whose value is steadily declining simply because of how front offices now think of the position: Running backs.
Based on the thoughts of the very decision-makers of the league, it literally doesn't matter how good you are, you aren't getting the bag in this NFL market if you're a running back.
With Monday's 4 p.m. ET deadline to extend franchise-tagged players officially in the rearview mirror, three star running backs failed to get a long-term deal done: Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, and Tony Pollard.
They will instead play out the 2023 NFL season for $10.1 million. That happens to be a lower figure than what they would've gotten for a franchise tag in 2015!
But this is where it gets really crazy: It's not that front offices think they're not good enough. In fact, they think they're some of the very best at the position in the entire league. Recently, ESPN put together a poll of executives, coaches, and scouts ranking the best backs in the NFL. Jacobs and Barkley both ranked in the Top 5. Pollard was in the Top 10.
Yet none of them was worth a long-term deal? It gets worse.
Out of the same ranking made by highly important NFL personnel (the people deciding whether or not they get paid), SEVEN of the top 10 running backs aren't under contract beyond 2023. I'll say it again: Seven of the best ten running backs!*
Note: Josh Jacobs (3), Saquon Barkley (4), Derrick Henry (5), Jonathan Taylor (6), Dalvin Cook (8), Tony Pollard (9), Austin Ekeler (10).
What can they do about it? Play even better? No, they can't. Because that isn't what's keeping them from getting paid. Then what is?
This is where it gets really tricky. The current state of the running back market in the league is utterly sad. That's the right word for it. But is it unfair? It depends on how you look at it. Compared to other positions and taking into account that there seems like there isn't anything they can do about it, yes, it is.
But in a colder and much more objective way, it's just how markets work. Teams operate with financial constraints of cash spending and salary cap space. If the data revolution indicates that running backs are much more replaceable than players of other positions and that they've got shorter "shelf lives" compared to other positions, it's clear that the most efficient way of putting together a winning team means not allocating many resources to a running back.
“I don’t think this trend of the diminishing contracts for the position is going to end anytime soon," said an anonymous general manager via ESPN's Jeff Darlington on Twitter. "I’d rather draft one HIGH and let him walk after 5 years than pay him big money.”
It's just the way it is. Obviously, these guys are still getting millions and millions of dollars. But it still sucks to see the declining value of the running back in a league that was basically built by them. I wonder if we'll get to an inflection point sometime in the near future.
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Featured image via Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
