05/03/24
July 18, 2023
The NFL’s Running Back Market Has Bottomed Out: After two of the NFL's best young running backs - Saquon Barkley and Josh Jackson - failed to reach new deals with their respective teams and are going to be playing the season under the franchise tag, Danny Heifetz writes: "The running back market has been crashing for years. When it bottomed out on Monday, you could sense players finally beginning to grieve. While it’s noble for (Derrick) Henry to say he will fight for what running backs “deserve,” it’s also sad to think about how unwinnable that fight will be. Whether these individual players are deserving has nothing to do with it."
posted by Ufez Jones to football at 05:51 PM - 3 comments
Doesn't that analogy make Frank Gore a cougar?
I feel especially bad for the backs that bust their butts to get the most out of their talent, give the team everything they have and will never get paid as they should, like Austin Ekeler.
Also extra disadvantaged are the lead blocking fullbacks who build up as much momentum as they can from the backfield before colliding head on with a LB or DL. Great FBs like James Develin have had fairly short careers due to all the tough contact they initiated.
posted by beaverboard at 08:54 PM on July 18, 2023
Ack, just noticed the Jackson/Jacobs flub I made in the post. Can't say I've watched a Raiders game in some time.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:12 PM on July 18, 2023
This is both a very good point and made me lol: "This positional devaluation has been brewing since 2011, when the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to essentially delay massive contracts for first-round picks until their fourth, fifth or even sixth year in the league. But by the time running backs have been in the league that long, they are often already declining. When wide receivers, quarterbacks, and defensive ends are turning 26, they're hitting life-altering paydays as they approach their primes. NFL running backs turning 26 get treated like Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriends."