In the NFL, the running backs go on the barricades. There are allegations of exploitation and a lack of respect. And of course it’s (also) about the money.
Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley are two of the best running backs in the NFL. Jacobs ran for the most ball-in-hand yards in the league last season, compared to Barkley’s fourth-most. Both of their cheaper “rookie contracts”, which all players get in the early years of the NFL, recently expired. Jacobs is 25 years old, Barkley 26. Both in the best age for a professional athlete and ready for the first really big contract – one would think.
Franchise Tag – a year for a good 10 million dollars
Jacobs was signed by his team, the Las Vegas Raiders, in March with the “Franchise Day” considered. Just like Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants. Put simply, this means that the teams make their players an offer to stay with the team for another year. Depending on the position, the salary is determined according to an annual key. For running backs annual salary for the 2023 season is $10.091 million. That’s more on the low end of the position scale. wide receiversi.e. pass recipients, get, for example, over 19 million dollars for the Franchise Tag, which incidentally can only be awarded to one player per season by each team.
Until Monday (07/17/2023), the players could still try to negotiate a long-term contract and/or a higher annual salary with the teams – and vice versa. In the case of Jacobs and Barkley, however, there was no agreement – apparently the teams did not want to pay what the players asked for and/or, above all, did not want to offer long-term contracts.
Incidentally, the same applies to position colleague Tony Pollard at the Dallas Cowboys, whose situation is somewhat different due to a serious injury.
McCaffrey, Ekeler, Henry and Co. criticize via Twitter
Now, it’s not as if Jacobs and Barkley’s $10 million-plus is a bad average salary for one running back would be in the NFL. Only six earn more on average in the next few years. The top earner is Christian McCaffrey with about 16 million per year. And yet, NFL Twitter “exploded” when it became clear that Jacobs and Barkley would not land a lucrative long-term contract. The best running backs of the league went on the barricades.
McCaffrey called the process “criminal“. Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans opined: “Then just take the position out of the game. The players work hard and give everything for their team and then it just doesn’t matter. I support every running back in the fight for a deserved reward.”
Ekeler: running backs as “disposable material”?
Austin Ekeler of the Los Angeles Chargers took the same line: “Everyone knows that without a top running back it’s difficult to be successful. And then they act like we’re just throwaway things. I support every running back in their efforts to get a good contract .” What Ekeler and Henry mean by that: Barkley, Jacobs and Pollard have to franchise day don’t sign of course. You can also decide to suspend the season, or parts of it, and forego money.
Many injuries as a running back
The motivations for the teams, deserved toprunning backs not wanting to offer any large contracts probably have to do with two factors in particular. In the past few years and decades, the NFL has gradually developed more and more in a pass-heavy direction. Running play remains important, but has long ceased to be the primary means by which teams bridge the field.
Above all, running back bodies are particularly badly affected. When defenders hit well over 100kg at full speed for tackles – and that doesn’t happen as often to anyone in the game running backs, who are always on the go with the ball at full speed – even the most trained body gradually takes it with it. Jacobs, for example, ran 340 times last season for the Raiders with the ball in his hand – and most of the attempts then ended with a tackle. That doesn’t even take into account the ones they bounce off while running.
And because running backs are also very dependent on their physical abilities such as speed, strength and agility, injuries can quickly lead to a drop in performance. Faster than other positions. A number of examples from the recent past have shown this.
Great “savings potential”
Accordingly, the teams are now apparently reluctant to spend the very large sums of money on “older” players when young, fresh talents are available in the draft, which cost significantly less money and can replace the supposed “discontinued models”. For example, if you choose a new one in the second of seven draft rounds running back out, such as the Seattle Seahawks this year with Zach Charbonnet, you can get a talented youngster for just $1.7 million a season.
In a thoroughly commercialized league like the NFL, such “cost-benefit calculations” are of course not a big surprise. The response of a large influential group via social media is now a sign that the players are now well aware of their reach, maturity and media value. And while it doesn’t seem very likely that Barkley and Jacobs will miss an entire season, league and team officials still need to monitor the explosive situation very closely.