From the leagues side, only 28.5% of all runningbacks play all 17 games in a season, with an average of 3.3 games missed a season. For a team to commit to a player that has most likely had injury problems at some point in their career is scary, especially in the drop off in production runningbacks typically have when getting into their 30’s. When a runningback is 29 years or older, they on average miss 5.2 games a season, and when a team has committed upwards of 10-15 million dollars a season, they won’t get a fair return on their investment. A cycle is currently in place in the NFL amongst the tops team where a team will draft a runningback in the late rounds, use every drop of their physical tools, play them till their rookie contract is up, not resign them, then draft another runningback late in the draft. Rinse and repeat. This strategy has worked successfully for some championship teams, but these runningbacks are typically left without a job, or bounce around team-to-team on one year prove-it deals.

Ethically, you can see the gray area in this. Statistics might show that this model is successful, but when you are dealing with real people that need to be resigned to support families, it becomes touchy. NFL runningbacks are creating a union to protest the way teams are handling their contracts. They feel like their being used like hired-weapons, once the job is complete, they are owed nothing from their provider. Some players have taken action into their own hands. One player in recent history to do this is former Steelers and Jets superstar runningback, Le’Veon Bell. When Bell’s contract was almost up with the Steelers, he believed that he deserved a longer and more lucrative deal than what was being offered, so as a response, he refused to play. He held out for an entire year, entering free agency as an unrestricted free agent. There, he was paid, however, it was from arguably the worst team in the league at the time. When Bell signed this contract, he was 27, which is the beginnings of sharp decline in production and health for runningbacks. Bell’s first season with the Jets was a blunder, only amassing 863 yards with 4 touchdowns. He was released from the team a little over a year after signing that 4 year contract.

As of writing this article, one of the best runningbacks in the NFL, Jonathan Taylor, has signed a 3 year - 42 million dollar contract with the Colts. Taylor has originally refused to play for the Colts until he was either traded, or signed to a extension, which he ultimately got. Perchance this could be the push the runningbacks needed for their market to push in a better place.

Battles on social media have not ceased though. Outcries for the ethics in the handling of these contracts continue. I personally believe that these agents are handling the situation wrong. They aren’t working with the players how they really should. The players are in charge of their own fate, threatening to sit out, and I believe that the agent should be the one negotiating these contracts and demand for the players. The players are only focused on the dollar amount and the length, and although that should be a main focus, the agents are handling player-team relationships as well. They aren’t establishing that runningbacks need to be viewed as a long-term project for these teams futures. That without them, teams won’t be where they are. These agents need to get these players to commit for the long haul. A one year- 12 million dollar deal isn’t comparable to a 4 year- 35 million dollar deal. Your health isn’t guaranteed for tomorrow, and although you aren’t getting paid as much on a year by year basis, make those later year incentive based with the contract front loaded, but having a multi-year deal would ease so much tension, but just formatting the contracts to be front loaded with high guarantees than in the back end make it heavily incentive based on production and health. I think if agents handled it like that, a lot more runningbacks would be signed.