The unwritten salary rules of the National Football League go something like this.
Play well, get paid. Play great, get paid beyond your wildest dreams. Be a successful quarterback and you can start shopping for jets, yachts and private islands.
For obvious reasons, you rarely hear much about pro football pay packets, yet there is a group beginning to feel left out of the cash party and not especially pleased about it.
Fiscally speaking, running backs have become among the least valued members of the NFL world — despite the physical toll their position exacts — a reality finding louder voice this offseason.
As we sit here past the midway point of the football rest period, one of the most prominent rushers in the league, Saquon Barkley, remains on the franchise tag, with no Giants contract extension looming. In Barkley’s case, there have been months of limbo. The former No. 2 pick is one of the most notable figures on the New York sports scene. Yet, if and when a deal is done, it will likely be for around $14 million a year, roughly a third of what Giants QB Daniel Jones receives.
More on Barkley later. As a general rule, NFL runners publicly wonder why their services don’t fit the same pay scale as other positions.
“Somewhere along the line, the running back position has been undervalued, in my opinion, for what they’re asked to do,” San Francisco 49ers RB star Christian McCaffrey told The Rich Eisen Show. “I don’t know when the value of a yard got diminished.”
McCaffrey is an outlier. He was a superstar for his first three seasons in the NFL, then struck it big with a $16 million per year contract handed out by the Carolina Panthers. After his trade to San Francisco last season, the 49ers’ fortunes increase markedly, leading them to a place in the NFC Championship Game.
Brian Daboll won’t discuss Saquon Barkley’s contract
If you’re in any doubt about whether having an elite RB still matters, just ask Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan. Or any of the defensive coordinators who were generally clueless as to how to effectively stop the 49ers offense.
Running backs do important work. In New York, the Giants’ resurgence was helped in no small measure by Barkley’s 1,312 yards on the ground. Since then, the situation has become messy. Barkley declined to sign the franchise tag in April ($10.1 million). Publicly at least, there has been little sign of progress between him and the Giants. If no contract is inked by July 17, he must sign the franchise tag or sit out the season.
In Tennessee, Derrick Henry is the clear face of the Titans franchise and plays on a contract worth $50 million over four years. But three players — QB Ryan Tannehill, free safety Kevin Byard, and lineman Harold Landry — will make more than him this season.
In Indianapolis, Jonathan Taylor has often looked like a very effective player, but still has one year left on the four-year, $7.8 million rookie deal he signed after getting drafted No. 41 in 2020.
In my eyes, the problem is not, like McCaffrey intimated, that the value of a yard has become devalued. It’s that there are too many players capable of earning you one.
In other positions, the money train is rolling along nicely. Forget about QBs, where the market is marching toward $60 million. The highest-earning wide receiver, Tyreek Hill, makes $30 million per year, nearly double McCaffrey’s chart-topping RB figure. The top defensive lineman (Aaron Donald, $31.7 million) and edge rusher (T.J. Watt, $28 million) are both in the same vicinity.
McCaffrey is also behind the best-paid cornerback (Jaire Alexander, $21 million), safety (Derwin James, $19 million) and tight end (Darren Waller, $17 million).
It is not easy being a running back, with all those defensive beasts lined up and ready to smash you into the turf. The brutal nature of the role means RB careers rarely last long, with players’ window of peak efficacy often coinciding with the period of their rookie contract.
Players like LeVeon Bell and Todd Gurley were briefly among the most dynamic players in the game, but quickly faded off the radar. Success can be fleeting.
As a result, teams are often unwilling to take much of a financial risk on RBs. Or indeed, to spend much draft capital on them. 2023 NFL Draft prospect Bijan Robinson from Texas was seen as a rare talent, but was often projected as going in the 20s before eventually being selected No. 8 by the Atlanta Falcons.
The Detroit Lions, who seem to be on an upward trend behind head coach Dan Campbell, were widely criticized for selecting Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12.
Running the ball remains important. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, even with Tom Brady, found their offense bogged down when they couldn’t get anything going from their runners, the worst statistically in the league. The drop off in performance of the defending Super Bowl-champion Los Angeles Rams was, in part, attributed to the team’s lackluster offensive line, which led to rushing failures.
Even the efforts of McCaffrey didn’t encourage RB spending. Barkley and the Giants are still tip-toeing around each other. Maybe if San Francisco had made it to the Super Bowl, and won it, the trend might be shifting. Perhaps it will take something as drastic as that.
Until then, some of the speediest runners in the game seem destined to still be lagging behind in the dash for cash.
