Running Backs continue to grow unhappy about their market.

The deadline to sign franchise-tagged players has come and gone, with Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, and Tony Pollard failing to get a big deal done. All of them will play under a $10.091 million tag throughout the 2023 season, though some might not even sign it and sit out the entire year. None of these players inking a deal shines a light on the fact that franchises don’t want to give big money to players in the backfield. 

Multiple star running backs around the league took notice of this trend, and they all reached out on social media. Jonathan Taylor said, “Wow.” Followed by another message that said, “If you’re good enough, they’ll find you. If you work hard enough, you’ll succeed. If you succeed, you boost the organisation. And then, doesn’t matter, you’re an RB.”

Derrick Henry followed up with his own message, saying, “At this point, just take the RB position out the game then. The ones that want to be great and work as hard as they can to give their all to an organisation, just seems like it doesn’t even matter. I’m with every RB that’s fighting to get what they deserve.” Along with Henry and Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, Najee Harris, and Austin Ekeler all jumped out with their own statements regarding their dissatisfaction. 

Barkley tweeted out one sentence, “It is what it is.” Following the news, he didn’t sign a deal. Then Harris said, “I agree with my running back brothers around the NFL. History will show that you need running backs to win, we set the tone every game and run through walls for our team and lead in many ways, this notion that we deserve less is a joke.” Then finally, McCaffrey said, “This is criminal. Three of the best PLAYERS in the entire league, regardless of position.” 

You can see this argument from both sides, though. Running backs nowadays are arguably the most replaceable position in football. That’s not to say these guys aren’t superstars because they are. However, just so many capable runners are itching for an opportunity somewhere. Isiah Pacheco was a late-round draft pick, for example. These teams don’t want to dish out a large chunk of their cap space for a guy that a hungry and younger runner can replace. Not to mention that backs get hit on every play, so their risk for injury is much higher, and their careers usually taper off early into their 30s. That’s the business side of things.

From the perspective of these running backs, they feel like they are among the best in the league at what they do. They feel they can carry an entire offense and want to be financially secure for the rest of their lives. They don’t want to sign one- or two-year deals. They want to be in a place where they can lock in for four years and help this team win, which they deserve considering the work they put in to reach this level of dominance.

It’s a very tough situation that will continue to be discussed in the season. Dallas Cowboys back Tony Pollard is expected to sign the tag and play this season, while Jacobs and Barkley have motioned more towards sitting out the entire year until they get locked down. Austin Ekeler requested a trade due to his contract situation but got extra incentives to stay for at least this upcoming season. Then Joe Mixon took a substantial pay cut to stick around with the Cincinnati Bengals. This fight isn’t over.