NFL Player on RB Contract Debate: 'If I Was Ever a GM, I Would Never Pay a RB' | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Daniel Cobb
Published Mar 23, 2026
It's not only NFL general managers who don't want to hand out big-money contracts to running backs.
In a player survey conducted by The Athletic, one player said he "would never pay a running back" if he was a general manager.
"I know that running backs complain about the market," the player explained. "But from an insider's perspective, if I was ever a GM, I would never pay a running back. There's a lot of talented backs that come out in the draft every year—at any place in the draft. I would never draft a running back in the first round."
The question asked in the survey was if players would be open to changing the franchise tag for running backs only, even if it impacted the salaries for other positions.
This past offseason shined a bright light on where some teams see running backs in the overall roster hierarchy. Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Austin Ekeler and Jonathan Taylor all had contract disputes with their clubs.
Barkley and Jacobs both received the franchise tag from their teams. Ekeler and Taylor received permission from their teams to seek a trade because they wanted long-term contract extensions.
Both Barkley and Jacobs wound up signing one-year deals that paid them slightly more than the $10.1 million value of the franchise tag. Ekeler signed a revised deal with the Los Angeles Chargers that added $1.75 million in reachable incentives, but didn't add any more years to his contract that expires after this season.
Taylor was the only member of that group whose holdout paid off. He signed a three-year, $42 million extension with the Indianapolis Colts in October.
It's hard for teams to justify handing out significant contracts to running backs when other skill positions have seen salaries spike in recent years.
Raheem Mostert, D'Andre Swift, James Cook, Zack Moss and Isiah Pacheco rank in the top 10 in rushing yards this season. Four of those five players were drafted outside of the first round. Mostert signed as an undrafted free agent in 2015.
