It used to be a glamorous position in the NFL, one at which stars were made and had long careers that often ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
That’s not the case for the running back position in the NFL anymore. Running backs are becoming more and more fungible as the shelf life gets shorter and shorter overall due to age and health brought on by wear and tear.
The surprising release of Dalvin Cook — who has four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons and is just 27 years old — by the Minnesota Vikings was the latest example of the running back position being greatly devalued, which has really opened the eyes of third-year Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday following the first mandatory minicamp practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, Harris said he is unsure why the position is being so devalued, but that with his own contract negotiations eventually coming up in the next few years, the process and the way the league views the position is rather eye-opening.
“They say that when you turn a certain age, then you’re out of your years to playing, which is crazy. You know what I mean? If you feel like you were able to play still, then who is it for somebody else to say that you can’t, like they don’t know your body. Neither have they been in your position. They’re just people riding behind the internet,” Harris said at Steelers minicamp, according to video via Steelers.com. “They don’t really don’t know how you train. They don’t know how you take care of your body. It’s just people making assumptions, which they don’t know nothing about, you know? To see people like that get released, especially in my position, it’s like, damn, what did they do? Is it because of their age? You know what I mean? Dalvin Cook is coming off of multiple 1,000-yard seasons. What? I don’t know. Is it money from the team? They got to pay somebody? I don’t know. But it’s eye-opening, for sure.”
Dating back to the pre-Le’Veon Bell days, there’s been a movement by teams to not plunge as much assets into the running back position overall, whether that’s from a draft standpoint, or from a financial standpoint with second contracts. Dating back to the 2013 NFL Draft — one decade, a good sample size — just 15 running backs over a 10-year span went in the first round of drafts. In four of those years, a running back was not selected in the first round at all.
Those running backs are Todd Gurley (Rams), Melvin Gordon (Chargers), Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys), Leonard Fournette (Jaguars), Christian McCaffrey (Panthers), Saquon Barkley (Giants), Rashaad Penny (Seahawks), Sony Michel (Patriots), Josh Jacobs (Raiders), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Chiefs), Najee Harris (Steelers), Travis Etienne (Jaguars), Bijan Robinson (Falcons) and Jahmyr Gibbs (Lions).
As you can see, there’s quite a bit of talent there, but teams have been reluctant to spend big on the position when it comes to second contracts and have largely avoided the position overall in the first round of the draft.
Some of that is due to the disappointment in the return on investment due to production or health overall. The running back position is one that goes through a lot of wear and tear, taking hits on seemingly every play, whether they are running the football, catching it out of the backfield or staying in as a pass blocker.
Most of it, though, is due to teams being able to find that type of production at a cheaper rate, especially later in the draft without having to spend a premium draft pick on a position that continues to be devalued.
McCaffrey, Elliott and Gurley all got big second contracts. None are with those teams anymore. In fact, McCaffrey is the only one currently employed with Elliott a free agent and Gurley retired. Barkley and Jacobs had the franchise tag placed on them after career years and remain in contract negotiations on a second deal with their respective teams.
Fournette is a free agent after stints with Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, while Gordon has bounced around with the Chargers, Broncos and Chiefs and remains a free agent today. Edwards-Helaire lost his starting job to a seventh-round pick and might be out of a roster spot due to another journeyman running back in Jerick McKinnon.
Such is life at running back in the NFL.
Seemingly gone are the days of the true workhorse running back as the league moves further and further towards a true running back by committee approach to not only keep guys healthy, but also bring a number of different skillsets to the table. Of course, there’s still going to be those workhorse running backs that handle the lion’s share of the work in the backfield, like Barkley, McCaffrey, Jacobs, Harris and presumably Robinson moving forward. But even if they do get that lucrative second contract, chances of them seeing the end of their contract are rather low as teams look to get off the ride before something malfunctions, so to speak.
Cook was the prime example of that, coming off of his fourth Pro Bowl season and fourth-straight 1,000-yard year. Cook was set to earn $10.4 million in base salary 2023, but the Vikings viewed that as far too much for a running back, especially with their belief in Alexander Mattison behind him.
Cook’s 2023 base salary was in line with the new money average of running backs in the top 10. The new money average of the top 10 highest paid RBs in the NFL right now is $11,648,885, so Cook was largely a bargain, considering his production and cost.
Yet he’s a microcosm of how the league views running backs, which has really opened Harris’ eyes moving forward. He knows a clock is seemingly ticking against him due to the position he plays, and the workload he handles, but it shouldn’t be cut and dry that when a player hits a certain age or a certain price tag that their career is near the end and teams should move on.
