Running Backs Needs To Get Paid

In today’s era of football some Nfl players are getting some big guaranteed contracts like Joe Burrow for $55 million, Justin Herbert for $52.5 million and Lamar Jackson for $52 million but they all have something in common, they’re quarterbacks. Nowadays if you’re not a starting quarterback for a NFL team your contract is going to look like chump change compared to everybody else. That’s still no reason to cheat every other position in the league out of their money. Everybody deserves to be paid the right amount despite what round you were drafted or the talents you may have. Nobody should be underpaid when you’re risking your mental and physical aspect to entertain the fans.
Over the past few years the market for running backs has declined tremendously. Running backs are just important as a wide receiver. It may seem like they aren’t important but they are. They risk their body by trying to run through multiple men repeatedly that are at least over 250 pounds. They’re very important especially when 90% of the time stadiums they play in are turf so it makes it more riskier to tear their achilles or have a hamstring injury. Running backs play an important part in the league they need to get paid.
The last time a running back had secured a big contract was 2019 when Ezekiel Elliot signed for six years $90 million dollars. The second highest in 2018 was when Todd Gurely signed for four years $57.5 million dollars. When the year 2020 came the world was in a rec, we were going through the deadly virus Covid-19, inflation was at its highest and the market for running backs were declining. At the start of the 2020 football season players were required to take the vaccines in order to play football but some refused. I believe that Covid-19 was the cause of the declined market for the running backs and an incline for the quarterbacks.
The start of the market declining started In 2020, every star running back in the league or draft class of that year was getting underpaid. For example, Christian McCaffery was the highest paid running back in 2020 his contract guaranteed him a four year extension averaging $16 million per year. Keep in mind He’s a 3x First-team all pro, and a 3x pro bowler. How do we go from $90 million to $16 million within a couple of months ? The Nfl don’t want to pay their running backs for what they’re worth.

Another star running back that had to adjust with the market was Derrick Henry he’s one of the greatest running backs this generation has seen. . In 2020 he was on contract for $10.27 Million dollars. Crazy right ? A player who led the league with 2000 yards, have three consecutive 200 yard games , Joined the club with three Hall of Famers in NFL history who recorded 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns in two consecutive seasons. He did all this in one year but yet he’s still an underpaid superstar.
Present day the market for running backs is still crazy. The highest paid running back in the NFL for the 2023 season is Christian McCaffrey who signed his contract for $16 Million dollars. which is crazy because he’s proven this season he’s worth more than that amount. It’s crazy how the NFl can pay these quarterbacks millions upon millions but they can barely pay these running backs anything. I know quarterbacks are the most important position in football but come on … everybody needs to get paid! This year you had running backs like Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs who were placed on franchise tag during the offseason. This means that they could still get an offer from other teams but the teams they’re on now have to match what the other offers. The market was so crazy this year for example, Derrick Henry’s salary was only $12.5 million dollars which is crazy to say because he’s arguably one of the best running backs you could have on your team.
I personally believe that these NFL scouting teams/ front offices pay who they want to pay. I understand every team in the league has a salary cap they can’t go over or they have multiple star players like Micah parsons, Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, and even Jalen Rasmey. But that still doesn’t mean to cut your running backs salary . They play an important part on the field too; they can do everything a wide receiver or even tight end could do. They’ve worked so hard to achieve their life long dream which is to play in the Nation Football League. The NFL needs to do better with paying their players what they’re worth.