INDIANAPOLIS — They tried to prevent this. They tried to circumvent this. And they tried to, at bare minimum, vent about this.
An offseason later, an NFL running backs’ Zoom meeting seems to have accomplished only that third objective.
Last July, NFLPA executive vice president Austin Ekeler helped organize a live call for a position group that felt undervalued and disheartened. On that call and over group text, they wondered why they weren’t getting long-term deals and why the franchise tag seemed to become a weapon used in concert against them.
Was this just unlucky timing, as the New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley, Dallas Cowboys’ Tony Pollard and Las Vegas Raiders’ Josh Jacobs all hit free agency in the same cycle?