No one wants to pay running backs anymore.
This isn’t a new phenomenon, but it reached its breaking point this offseason when the Minnesota Vikings released Dalvin Cook and the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders each placed the franchise tags on Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs, respectively, with neither having agreed to a contract extension yet.
Those three finished first (Jacobs), fifth (Barkley) and eighth (Cook) in total scrimmage yards in 2022, and all three accounted for sizable portions of their individual team’s total scrimmage yards.