I honestly think it’s shameful that the NFLPA hasn’t attempted to address this. I mean, obviously NFL teams (at least halfway intelligent ones) aren’t going to sign RBs to high-dollar long-term deals. Just too likely to get injured, it doesn’t make sense. But because of the higher risk of injury, you’d think the NFLPA would have RBs’ backs, and be demanding a higher salary floor for that position.
I just feel for guys who give up their bodies, likely give up their ability to walk and stand normally by middle age, and get relative peanuts for the sacrifice. It would be nice if the union committed to demanding some kind of fairer compensation for positions that we know have shorter careers. Though, since that will mean other positions giving up some of their share of the pie, I’m not holding my breath.
I think if they started arguing for salary floors, the league would start arguing for salary ceilings and it would probably end up screwing players in the end. The thing is, this info is out there now, so if you’re a kid coming up and you have a choice, play WR. I think that is happening a lot now honestly.
Ok, but thinking of what Jacobs would make, doesn’t
that kind of change that narrative?
Sorry, missed the relative part.
Im looking at it ftom the stand point that 2nd contracts are more the issue. If i can get a stud at 18, and replace him with another in 4-5 yrs it’s a bargain. I love Jacobs, but not at 14 mill. or so per. I prefer even Bijan at what, 1.5 mill per?
And focusing on the tangible benefits for a second, being able to run the football effectively helps the lineman pass protect. It keeps the defense honest where they can’t do alot of exotic pass rushes and it can even simplify the secondary from playing exotic coverages.
RB is a devalued position because of the number of acceptable options available for teams to choose from. Not because running the football is suddenly “not a thing.”
This is true, but IMO it’s still shameful. If everybody knows that this is a job that will destroy the body of any young man who does it, the salary should reflect that. The fact that you can still get young men to give up their future health for a few hundred K doesn’t mean the status quo is ethical.
Also, just want to note, there are already salary floors in the NFL–vet minimum salaries. I just believe the number for RB should be higher. What might be possible (if also unlikely) would be an across-the-board decision to tie vet minimum salaries to playing time. So like, if you’re a 3rd string RB earning the vet minimum of $700k, but you end up playing as much snaps as a 1st stringer, you get automatically bumped up into a higher tier of minimum compensation. In theory, the principle could apply to any position. Of course, it still likely will never happen, because highly paid vets and their agents would still have to devote a larger chunk of upfront cash under the cap to pay for that.
At 18 he’d be around 3.8M/year (that’s a little more than what Treylon Burks makes, and he went 18th last year). Draft him higher and of course he’d cost more.
I’d rather have a guy for longer than 4-5 years (it’s why I don’t like drafting older prospects either), but at RB it would be OK I suppose… if he doesn’t get hurt. That’s where my problems lies, because I think he will get hurt. They all do.
I suspect it’s also devalued because in the past RBs were all 220+ lb workhorses. We’ve become a passing league and RBs are lighter, faster and slighter. More like slot receivers who don’t hold us as well physically and can be more or less interchangeable
That’s why a cat like Bijon is such an intriguing prospect. He’s 200 plus, strong, a good blocker and an upper level runner and receiver. Some of his runs look like Marshawn Lynch out there tossing defenders down, running routes he looks like Edgerrin James. Cutting around in crowds like LaDainian Tomlinson…
For me, the takeaway was defense in the nfc… The 49ers were #1, and the Eagles were #2 in the entire nfl in yards per game allowed. Both have dominating defensive fronts. If the Lions want to beat those teams in the future, we need to massively upgrade the defense. We already know we can score points. But we can’t beat those teams in the playoffs with our current defense.
The NFL already does that. Its called the performance based pay system. Its not huge but its there. I think they need to increase the dollar value, though.
Honestly, this is probably the biggest change in the game since I started watching as a kid. Stud RBs used to be superstars, the biggest names in the league. Now it’s a nice-to-have luxury if you happen to have a stud there.
Purdy is performing like a $15-20m quarterback in nfl. Or St Brown is getting 100 passes at $16-$20m production
Golladay a good bad example - he imo was a player a real dawg , yet I understood packing it in under Patricia and his contract vs his worth.
It actually seems like a pretty tough scenario and over-looked part of the mental focus needed to be an nfl player.
Here is an article talking about the extra pay Golladay received in 2019. I wouldn’t pay rookies like top level vets on their 2nd contract, but I do agree that the pool of money should increase. I do think its cool that the program already exists.
Right, I did read about this, totally forgot. It’s good to know that the union has at least demanded this level of fairness. I still think that RB is a special case. I’d be curious to know how average career length and lifetime earnings for RBs compares to other positions. It’s a brutal game, but some positions take more abuse than others.
Let’s see how they do against better offenses. The Bills were up there too, only 20 ypg behind the 49ers at the top. But they had to play the Bengals juggernaut. The Giants and a Cowboys offense without their most explosive weapon aren’t the same sort of challenge.
The Bengals defense, for what it’s worth, was 17th. Anarumo really cooked up a brilliant scheme for this game.
Yea that Bills defense was pretty soft yesterday, disappointing because I was cheering for them. They got their dicks handed to them by a bunch of backup O-linemen. Although they really hadn’t been the same since Von Miller went out for the season.
Also, and I almost brought this up in the original post, but what happened to the Bills sort of shows why LB has been devalued too. Milano and Edmonds played great games… and yet it didn’t matter at all.
