After Derrick Henry’s 4-year, $50M contract ($25.5M guaranteed) extension with Colts division rivals Tennessee Titans, the debate of whether it is smart to commit big money to a running back capture my attention. Many fans think it is stupid to pay for a position where it is easy to find value and where players’ production drops off a cliff without any type of warning, but others have a different opinion, and think of running backs as they do any other player: if he is good, you pay him.
To shine some light into this well-discussed subject, I looked over the most recent cases of running backs signed to an expensive long term deal.