Are NFL Running Backs More Valuable Than Their Current Market Value Indicates?

First appeared in BOXSCORE

By Aron Solomon

I’m in the camp of “don’t shoot the messenger” here:

Matt Miller has taken some pretty massive social media heat for simply revealing here the new equation for compensating running backs. The idea of a long-term high-paying deal for running backs is, at least for now, a historical artifact, the stuff of fond memories for people who played that position and the fans who loved to watch them play.  

The National Football League (NFL) has seen a significant shift in the value of running backs in recent years. Teams are no longer willing to pay top dollar for running backs, and many opt to draft them later in the draft or not at all. However, running backs are more valuable than their current market value indicates.

Let’s Bust Some Running Back Myths:

1. Running Backs are Versatile

Running backs are not just ball carriers. They are also receivers and blockers. They can catch passes out of the backfield, run routes like a wide receiver, and pick up blitzes to protect the quarterback.

Okay, that’s all true but it’s part of the root of the current valuation of running back. All of this versatility takes a massive physical toll. As of putting your head down and running up the middle through thousands of pounds of defenders wasn’t enough, running backs sacrifice their bodies in all of these versatile jobs.

2. Running Backs Are Game-Changers

Running backs can change the course of a game with a single play. They can break tackles, make defenders miss, and take it to the house. They can also control the clock and keep the opposing offense off the field.

Historically, a great running back can make an average offense good and a good offense great. But as experienced running backs are and will be replaced by running backs with a lot less experience but far fresher bodies, their learning curve will also mean more mistakes and a certain number of repetitions to get things right. Raw running backs new to the league simply have a less broad and reliable arsenal of skills and experiences.

3. Running Backs are Durable

Um. No.

Historically in the NFL, the notion was that running backs take a lot of hits, but they are also built to take them. They are some of the most durable players on the field, and they can play through injuries that would sideline other players. This durability makes them valuable assets to any team.

That has changed along with the game. There’s no better way to say it than this: Everyone is bigger, faster, and stronger than ever. Any running back at any point in the NFL’s history had a certain finite number of hits in their career before they were done.

Today, given that size and speed of the players who are hitting them, that number is far less. This is foundationally important in this new equation of disposable running backs.

5. Running Backs are Leaders

Running backs are often the leaders of their teams. They set the tone for the offense and inspire their teammates with their play. They are also often the emotional leaders of their teams, providing the spark that ignites a comeback or a victory.

True, but leadership and experience go hand-in-hand. While it’s not impossible for a running back to be a leader fresh out of college or a year or two into their NFL careers, leadership is a product of experience. A league of far less experienced running backs will produce a leadership vacuum like the league has never seen.

5. Running Backs are Rare

Great running backs were and are rare. They don’t come along every year, and when they do, they are often the difference between a good team and a great team. Teams that have great running backs are often in the playoff hunt, while teams that don’t are often struggling to win games.

True but teams have collectively decided through their actions and inactions that rare running back are a nice-to-have, not a must-have. In essence, the NFL and its franchises are trading off rare running backs of historical importance (those who earn a certain tenure and salary in the league) in exchange for a league full of serviceable but not exceptional running backs.

The real shame here is that running backs have historically been versatile, game changers, durable, leaders, and rare. Teams that invested in great running backs were rewarded with success on the field.

The change in paradigm today is deeply disappointing. To devalue an entire position, as the NFL and its teams have, will prove to be a very hard hit to the league.

So Where Does This Go From Here?

The short answer is probably nowhere.

But as Philadelphia lawyer Rich DiTomaso pointed out, “If it’s a natural devaluation of the running back or any position, that’s how the football bounces. If it was any kind of silent agreement among the league and/or owners that they wanted to cap or limit what a position of players earns, that’s collusion and it’s illegal.”

The latter can absolutely get the NFL in hot water like they’ve ever seen before. From the perspective of many football fans across the nation, what’s happening with running backs is just weird. When we think about some of our favorite players in NFL history – some of the biggest personalities who helped drive forward the public profile of the game so many of us love – many were running backs. Brown, Payton, Sanders, Csonka, Sayers, Harris, Smith, Allen – the list goes on and on.

It’s a shame the league finds itself where it is today and an even greater shame that fans aren’t louder in their opposition to the new reality of disposable running backs. The game was literally built on their backs – something that this generation of league and officials and owners needs to be reminded of.

About Aron Solomon

A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the Chief Legal Analyst for Esquire Digital and the Editor-in-Chief for Today’s Esquire. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world. Aron has been featured in Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, TechCrunch, The Hill, BuzzFeed, Fortune, Venture Beat, The Independent, Fortune China, Yahoo!, ABA Journal, Law.com, The Boston Globe, YouTube, NewsBreak, and many other leading publications.