As we entered the 2024 NFL season, there was one storyline perpetrated across the mainstream media waves more than others, and that was the death of the running back position in the league. This came in the face of a free agency period ripe with some of the top running backs in the NFL. When history looks back on the 2024 free-agent class, they may see fit to label this as one of the greatest position classes of all-time. With the likes of Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley as the headliners, and an undercard filled with superb talent as well, Josh Jacobs, Adam Jones, and Austin Eckler found themselves as free agents this off-season, and all of them signed with new teams. We also saw J.K. Dobbins, Joe Mixon, and Tony Pollard sign with new teams as the projected starter. In an off-season where nearly a third of the starting running back talent from the previous year would be entering free agency, was there another reason for the anti-running back narratives that dominated news cycles? Could it be a more nefarious motive driving these headlines, and if so by whom? The answer to that question could be far simpler than people might expect.
As fans, we tend make inherent assumptions when it comes to our favorite sports team. One of those assumptions is that every organization strives to be the best, and unfortunately that it is often not the case. The NFL is a business, and like any business, the goal is to be profitable. This has been an underlying point to much of the changes in policy within the NFL over the past quarter century. Due to revenue sharing, a team does not have to be successful on the field to be profitable as an organization. This has led to ownership of a professional sports team being relegated into an investment and less an organizational hunt for a championship.
To find a possible source for the distain for the running back position requires going back to the 2022 off-season. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was in line to strike a deal that would be one of the richest in NFL history and further drive up the price for top level talent at the position. Multiple teams were in pursuit of acquiring Watson, one of them being the Cleveland Browns, but talks would break down over what was rumored to be desires for a fully-guaranteed contract by Watson’s side. In the wake of it being announced that Cleveland was eliminated from the running, reports arose stating the opposite, and Watson achieved what many people said was impossible. Deshaun Watson would sign the first ever fully-guaranteed contract in the history of the NFL. It was publicized that many of the teams interested in signing Watson were against any offer that was fully-guaranteed. The reverse in stance by the Browns sent ripples throughout the NFL, falling in line with the trend of quarterbacks resetting the market each time a top talent signed a new deal, and marking a potential rift within the club that is owning an NFL team.
In 2023, we see another instance of potential collusion taking place among ownership when Lamar Jackson found himself placed under the franchise-tag, introducing many to the non-exclusive franchise-tag that allows teams to negotiate with the player. With little haste, multiple teams were reported with zero interest in Jackson. The immediate dismissal by teams with glaring needs at the quarterback position left fans stumped by the announcements. Lamar Jackson would not only win the league MVP in 2023 but, as of the writing of this article, finds himself in a two-horse race for this year’s league MVP. All of this came at a time when Jackson had made it clear he was not happy in Baltimore and was seeking to be traded, and by all accounts, there was minimal interest in Jackson across the league. Since that time, all Jackson has done has been arguably the best quarterback in each of the last two years. Why would no team have an interest in a player of this level of talent? Why would a team fool around with utilizing the non-exclusive tag versus the traditional exclusive franchise-tag? The end of this saga was marked by the inevitable re-signing of Jackson by the Ravens to a mega-deal compliable to MVP-level talent. A talking point thrown around was the question of how much of the contract would be fully-guaranteed, likely to the dismay of ownership.
The affliction of ownership not being concerned with winning on the field is an issue not exclusive to the NFL. It is a concern held by the fans of sports teams across professional sports. Organizations steeped in disfunction are often met with doom when the priorities of ownership do not align with the rest of the organization. There is no shortage of examples when it comes to bad ownership in the NFL. Not once did we see action taken against any of these bad apples, unless they threatened the prosperity of the league i.e. the bottom dollar. Only then did we see efforts made to remove said person. There are numerous instances of owners acting in a manner that was a disservice to the team, and there is no recourse for such actions. In 2024 with possibly one of the deepest free-agent classes at the running back position, of course the main narrative surrounding the off-season would be the devaluation of the running back position. Especially at a time when there was more noise than ever being raised by players at the position.
The NFL is a money driven league and owners will do everything they can to squeeze out every cent. As hindsight will always be 20/20, five of the top running back talent that signed with a new team this past off-season made the playoffs with their respected team, and at the head of the class this year’s NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. Over recent years, the Eagles have been one of the few teams to continually strive to add top talent to their roster by any means. Similar to the behavior of the L.A. Rams, a team that is more than willing to trade a first-round pick for an established player. What do these teams have in common? A consistent presence in the playoffs and a Lombardi Trophy to go along with that playoff success. A great philosopher is not required to prophesize why the same teams reach the playoffs year after year. The bias of our fandom can be blinding to even the most blatant of actions. Owners in the NFL are not inept to this fact, leaning on the patriotic nature that is intertwined with being a fan, and perpetuating the notion that the best interest of an organization is at the heart of every move.
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