Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs led the NFL with 1,652 yards rushing, but that performance isn’t getting him the raise he wants.
The New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley finished fourth in the NFL with 1,312 yards, and he isn’t getting the payday he wants either.
Neither is Dallas running back Tony Pollard, who split time with Ezekiel Elliott and still gained 1,007 yards. He averaged a league-best 24.2 yards among players who scored at least 10 touchdowns.
Well, he didn’t get paid, either.
Related: Will Saquon Barkley Or Josh Jacobs Hold Out?
The deadline for each running back to negotiate a long-term deal with their current team or play for the $10.1 franchise tag ended at 4 p.m. EST on Monday. Only punters and kickers ($5.4 million) have a lower franchise tag number.
So Jacobs, Barkley, and Pollard will either play for the franchise-tag salary of $10.1 million, or they won’t play until after the regular season ends. Pollard has signed his tender and will be at training camp.
Jacobs and Barkley have not signed their tenders, so they’re not obligated to be at training camp.
Barkley has intimated he won’t be at the start of training camp; Jacobs isn’t expected for the start of camp.
Saquon Barkley stats (2022): 1,312 rushing yards, 338 receiving yards, 10 TD
“It is what it is,” Barkley tweeted shortly before the deadline.
On June 10, Jacobs tweeted, “Sometimes it’s not about you. We gotta do it for the ones after us.”
Ten days later, he tweeted, “Bad business.”
Nick Chubb, who signed a three-year, $36 million deal in 2021, is the last running back to sign a contract worth more than $10 million per season.
In April, the Packers slashed Aaron Jones’ contract from $16 million to $11 million after he gained a career-high 1,121 yards and averaged 5.3 per carry. Last week, Cincinnati reduced Joe Mixon’s salary from $9.4 million to $5.5 million with incentives.
If Jacobs, Barkley, and Pollard couldn’t negotiate long-term agreements this season, the odds are they won’t negotiate one next year when they’re each a year older.
Next season, the franchise tag for those players will be $12.2 million.
“At this point, just take the RB position out the game then,” Derrick Henry tweeted. “The ones that want to be great & work as hard as they can to give their all to an organization just seems like it don’t even matter. I’m with every RB that’s fighting to get what they deserve.”
Henry wasn’t alone in his disdain for the process.
“This is Criminal. Three of the best PLAYERS in the entire league, regardless of position,” tweeted Christian McCaffrey.
How the running back position has changed in NFL
Such is the life for running backs these days, and it isn’t changing anytime soon. There’s too much supply and not nearly enough demand, and that means teams don’t feel any need to pay running backs.
Of the 15 running backs who gained more than 1,000 yards last season, only four were selected in the first round.
Six were second-round picks, three were fourth-round picks, and two were taken in the fifth round.
Since productive running backs can be found in any round, there’s no need to take them at the top of the draft.
Plus, running backs typically see their production dip substantially after they turn 28, so teams aren’t paying even the best ones big money.
The CBA doesn’t help.
It prohibits players from getting a second contract until after Year 3, making it punitive rules for players under contract to hold out.
Teams have all the leverage, and they use it.
Remember, Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, and Leonard Fournette are free agents looking for work.
Only Cook, who has had four straight 1,100-yard seasons, is expected to sign a contract for more than the minimum.
“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 trough (sic) walls for our team and lead in many ways- this notion that we deserve less is a joke,” Najee Harris tweeted.
Jean-Jacques Taylor is an NFL Insider for Sportsnaut and the author of the upcoming book “Coach Prime“, with Deion Sanders. Follow him on Twitter.