This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes.
The NFL’s running back situation is coming to a head and it’s getting ugly.
Jonathan Taylor’s tenuous situation with the Colts is the latest case. Taylor is currently eligible for a contract extension after an injury-plagued third season in Indy, but the team hasn’t even had the discussion. At all. And, if Jim Irsay’s latest comments are any reflection of the team’s intentions, they don’t plan on it.
Look, it’s easy to see why things are heading in this direction. If the NFL is a game of chess, running backs are treated like the league’s pawns.
There are plenty of them. They’re easily replaceable and you can find multiple ways to use them effectively. Year after year, we see teams opting for younger and cheaper options at the position rather than paying proven talent.
To be completely honest, they’re not wrong in doing so. Take Ezekiel Elliott, for example. The running back was cut earlier this summer by the Cowboys. He’s a multi-time Pro Bowler and only 27 years old. This wouldn’t happen at any other position. But no other position seems to be as replaceable. The Cowboy’s found Elliott’s replacement in Tony Pollard in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. He’s a Pro-Bowler now.
Elliott is far closer to the norm for NFL running backs than anyone would like to admit. As ESPN’s Mina Kimes so eloquently points out here, these backs spend their prime laying for free in college and then, when they finally get to the NFL, they spend the rest of it playing on cheap deals.
By the time it’s time to get that second or third big contract, many backs are hundreds of carries deep into their career. The injuries have piled up.
That’s the truth. But, man, does that suck. Imagine putting your body on the line for your job and your team just to have them say “Thank you, but we don’t need you anymore.” Even if there’s logical reasoning behind it, it just feels crass.
Getting back to Jonathan Taylor, he’s very clearly the Colt’s best player. Yet, because of his position, he can’t be offered any long-term security. That’s wrong.
Where would the Giants be without Saquon Barkley? Would the Raiders be able to compete without Josh Jacobs? To put it simply, players should be rewarded for being good. There’s got to be a reasonable way to do that.
The sad part is that there’s no shot of changing this. Not at least until 2030 when the NFL’s labor agreement with the NFLPA expires. In that sense, Jim Irsay is right. Nothing can change until then.
When the time comes, players could ask for solutions like lowering the NFL Draft eligibility age to allow players to enter the league sooner. Most players won’t be physically ready, but at least having that option might get the clock ticking sooner.
Maybe they could negotiate the removal of salary slots for rookies so running backs have a chance to earn more money earlier. Or maybe there’s some sort of award players could earn to trigger contract negotiations sooner.
There are solutions available. But there’s a chance those changes might require a work stoppage of some sort. Would players be willing to do that for one position? That’s hard to say.
Regardless, we’re not getting any solutions anytime soon. But the league’s current crop of running backs should take solace in this: The noise that they’ve made has ensured that nobody will forget anytime soon that this happened.
So, in 2030, when it’s time to fight? We’ll all know exactly where they’re coming from.
Quick Hits: Shohei Ohtani is unreal … Big 12 expansion is coming … and more.
— I know the Angels are probably silly for not trading Shohei Ohtani. But, y’all. Imagine trading someone THIS GOOD. Mary Clarke has more.
— Andrew Joseph has marked the six best candidates in college football for Big 12 expansion. Following the new Colorado addition, more should be on the way.
— Sean Payton ain’t have to go in on Nathaniel Hackett like this. OK, maybe he did. Prince Grimes has more.
— Here’s Cory Woodruff on the NFL’s first slot machine deal.
Enjoy the weekend. Be kind to each other!