Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Austin Ekeler sound off on absence of RB extensions: 'Criminal'

[Neil039]

Guaranteed money killed the position. As a consumer I am apart of the problem. Consumers pay an absorbanent amount of money to watch grown men play a game. RB’s want their part of the guaranteed money, I don’t blame them. Although the issue lies in the fact they have a short shelf life due to the beating their bodies take.

They squeeze between two fat asses to get drilled by hulking mountains of muscle (sounds like they are in the porn business).

Until teams and players come to realization to that not all money should be guaranteed and possibly pro-rated due to injury. But what do I know, I would rather have grown up without technology taking over as I use my iPad to type this…SMH

 

[tklongball]

Their Crying makes me real sad. LOL. If they don't like the pay, there are lots of other jobs out there. They might be surprised at how little they pay in comparison.

 

[Memento]

Their Crying makes me real sad. LOL. If they don't like the pay, there are lots of other jobs out there. They might be surprised at how little they pay in comparison.

My point is that it's not about the other jobs they could take. It's that they take the most brutal punishment in football, show it later in life, and most jobs, while they can be quite dangerous, don't have anything near the severity of injuries that running backs take on average. All those touches, all the times they get hit, even when they don't have the ball (play-action can allow tackling of the running back, if someone gets into the backfield quick enough), it takes its toll.

I do not blame them for wanting to make more, and some contracts with running backs - and especially quarterbacks - have to be altered.

 

[AvengerRam]

My point is that it's not about the other jobs they could take. It's that they take the most brutal punishment in football, show it later in life, and most jobs, while they can be quite dangerous, don't have anything near the severity of injuries that running backs take on average. All those touches, all the times they get hit, even when they don't have the ball (play-action can allow tackling of the running back, if someone gets into the backfield quick enough), it takes its toll.

I do not blame them for wanting to make more, and some contracts with running backs - and especially quarterbacks - have to be altered.

Bijan Robinson (8th pick this year) signed a 4 year deal (5th year option) with over $21M guaranteed at signing. If he plays for four years, and never plays another down, he will have made more money than most earn in a lifetime. The fact that other positions get more does not change the fact that top RBs are paid very well for their services from day 1.

 

[tklongball]

My point is that it's not about the other jobs they could take. It's that they take the most brutal punishment in football, show it later in life, and most jobs, while they can be quite dangerous, don't have anything near the severity of injuries that running backs take on average. All those touches, all the times they get hit, even when they don't have the ball (play-action can allow tackling of the running back, if someone gets into the backfield quick enough), it takes its toll.

I do not blame them for wanting to make more, and some contracts with running backs - and especially quarterbacks - have to be altered.

I don't blame them for wanting to make more. I blame them for crying about it as if they are some slave labor being treated unfairly. The only thing that Quote/Unquote Keeps them there, is that they couldn't make anything close to the money they are making anywhere else. If you don't think you are being paid fairly look for another job. But to cry about how your job only pays you $X Million a year, when you have no other prospects to make anything close to that is silly. What exactly is your leverage?

Look at it this way. What is the justification for people getting paid tens of millions of dollars a year to play a game? The only justification is that they bring value to a team. How can the justification of your ridiculous salary, also be the reason you complain about it?

The RB is losing value in the NFL. Why? Because they are replaceable. If not, they would be getting better contracts. The Market dictates their pay, and acting like a victim won't change it for them. Again, you don't like it change positions or jobs.

I am sorry that you winning the genetic lottery only paid off in $13M per year for you. It just isn't fair that some other guy gets $30M a year. GTFO here with that BS. (Not you @Memento )

 

[Memento]

Bijan Robinson (8th pick this year) signed a 4 year deal (5th year option) with over $21M guaranteed at signing. If he plays for four years, and never plays another down, he will have made more money than most earn in a lifetime. The fact that other positions get more does not change the fact that top RBs are paid very well for their services from day 1.

It's not about getting more or less. Bijan Robinson, with all of the carries he's gotten in high school, college, and will get in the NFL, will absorb more punishment than any other position in football, save perhaps returners. He - and almost every other running back, regardless of how skilled they are - will leave football as broken men.

I don't care about money, except in the case of quarterbacks (who should really have their own tier; they make far too much money and cost too much against the cap). I care about what will happen after they stop playing, that a lot of running backs, regardless of the money they make, regardless of how good they were, will struggle to fucking walk and that they're tossed aside like trash.

That's what all of these top running backs are arguing about. This is an important position on the offense that takes a lot of punishment and most teams pay for basically four - maybe five - years before moving on to the next one.

 

[tklongball]

It's not about getting more or less. Bijan Robinson, with all of the carries he's gotten in high school, college, and will get in the NFL, will absorb more punishment than any other position in football, save perhaps returners. He - and almost every other running back, regardless of how skilled they are - will leave football as broken men.

I don't care about money, except in the case of quarterbacks (who should really have their own tier; they make far too much money and cost too much against the cap). I care about what will happen after they stop playing, that a lot of running backs, regardless of the money they make, regardless of how good they were, will struggle to fucking walk and that they're tossed aside like trash.

That's what all of these top running backs are arguing about. This is an important position on the offense that takes a lot of punishment and most teams pay for basically four - maybe five - years before moving on to the next one.

Again, they are making a CHOICE to play, and getting compensated VERY handsomely for it. If it is a bum deal, by all means, do something else.

 

[Memento]

I don't blame them for wanting to make more. I blame them for crying about it as if they are some slave labor being treated unfairly. The only thing that Quote/Unquote Keeps them there, is that they couldn't make anything close to the money they are making anywhere else. If you don't think you are being paid fairly look for another job. But to cry about how your job only pays you $X Million a year, when you have no other prospects to make anything close to that is silly. What exactly is your leverage?

Look at it this way. What is the justification for people getting paid tens of millions of dollars a year to play a game? The only justification is that they bring value to a team. How can the justification of your ridiculous salary, also be the reason you complain about it?

The RB is losing value in the NFL. Why? Because they are replaceable. If not, they would be getting better contracts. The Market dictates their pay, and acting like a victim won't change it for them. Again, you don't like it change positions or jobs.

I am sorry that you winning the genetic lottery only paid off in $13M per year for you. It just isn't fair that some other guy gets $30M a year. GTFO here with that BS. (Not you @Memento )

I don't think they're crying about just the contracts. I think they're upset that they are an important position that mostly gets tossed aside after four or five years at most, like Jonathan Taylor alluded to in his tweet. This is all of the running backs. I get that you don't want to consider a long term deal with most running backs, I get that the value of them is dropping, but something in the next CBA has to change because teams are just screwing over older running backs (who aren't really old) for the sexy rookie pick.

Again, I understand the thought of them to take another job if they don't like being a running back, but hasn't anyone here bitched a little bit about their job? Hasn't there been older people who get fired when management wants a younger person to do the same job at a lower price? Similar thing with the NFL; they can complain all they want; even though they'll be rich, a lot will be unable to walk in their fifties, will suffer from CTE. I get that businesses are cutthroat, but it doesn't make it any less morally-wrong, to me, at least.

 

[OldSchool]

where did they say that?

.

They aren't getting paid enough. Fans pay their paycheck. They want a bigger piece of the pie news flash everybody on an NFL roster wants more money.

 

[AvengerRam]

It's not about getting more or less. Bijan Robinson, with all of the carries he's gotten in high school, college, and will get in the NFL, will absorb more punishment than any other position in football, save perhaps returners. He - and almost every other running back, regardless of how skilled they are - will leave football as broken men.

I don't care about money, except in the case of quarterbacks (who should really have their own tier; they make far too much money and cost too much against the cap). I care about what will happen after they stop playing, that a lot of running backs, regardless of the money they make, regardless of how good they were, will struggle to fucking walk and that they're tossed aside like trash.

That's what all of these top running backs are arguing about. This is an important position on the offense that takes a lot of punishment and most teams pay for basically four - maybe five - years before moving on to the next one.

That's the point...

RBs, compared to other positions, tend to (1) produce earlier in their careers, and (2) break down at a younger age. The only rational reaction to these factors is for teams to avoid paying long-term second contracts to RBs and, instead, draft young replacements.

That's the reality of the position. If a young athlete who is 6'0, 200 lbs. and can run a 4.4 or faster chooses, as a result, to play WR or CB, I would not blame him.

Those who choose to play RB, however, have to deal with the realities of the position.

 

[Memento]

That's the point...

RBs, compared to other positions, tend to (1) produce earlier in their careers, and (2) break down at a younger age. The only rational reaction to these factors is for teams to avoid paying long-term second contracts to RBs and, instead, draft young replacements.

That's the reality of the position. If a young athlete who is 6'0, 200 lbs. and can run a 4.4 or faster chooses, as a result, to play WR or CB, I would not blame him.

Those who choose to play RB, however, have to deal with the realities of the position.

I get the business part. I get that it's cutthroat. I just think that running back contracts have to be structured in a certain way.

 

[tklongball]

I don't think they're crying about just the contracts. I think they're upset that they are an important position that mostly gets tossed aside after four or five years at most, like Jonathan Taylor alluded to in his tweet. This is all of the running backs. I get that you don't want to consider a long term deal with most running backs, I get that the value of them is dropping, but something in the next CBA has to change because teams are just screwing over older running backs (who aren't really old) for the sexy rookie pick.

Again, I understand the thought of them to take another job if they don't like being a running back, but hasn't anyone here bitched a little bit about their job? Hasn't there been older people who get fired when management wants a younger person to do the same job at a lower price? Similar thing with the NFL; they can complain all they want; even though they'll be rich, a lot will be unable to walk in their fifties, will suffer from CTE. I get that businesses are cutthroat, but it doesn't make it any less morally-wrong, to me, at least.

First off, they are ONLY crying about the contracts. They are RBs. They know well and good what that entails.

I think the bolded portion of your statement only proves my point from my earlier post. What they are crying about is the ONLY thing that justifies their salaries in the first place. Their Value. They need to come to terms with the fact that the RB in the NFL is losing value. Period. They may not like it, but it is true, and crying won't change it. They just don't have leverage. You may not like it, and it may not be ideal for them, but it is the system that pays them Millions more than they could make any other way.

In the NFL EVERYBODY gets replaced with a younger guy eventually. Players don't get to decide when that happens, except in the case of retirement.

 

[RamDino]

I do not blame them for wanting to make more, and some contracts with running backs - and especially quarterbacks - have to be altered.

This is a great point. The running backs should be upset with the quarterbacks as much as the organization. At 50 million per year guaranteed, they are taking away too much of the pie from other players. This is not a normal supply/demand market in the sense that the salary cap limits how much teams can spend.

Barkley has no one to blame because all of his teammates play by the same rules... various positions pay various wage rates. LT and Edges get paid more than Linebackers and that's ok. But the biggest problem is the outliers... Qb (paid too much) and RB (not paid enough). In fact all of the superstars get paid too much, but good luck coming up with a solution that the players would agree to.

 

[tklongball]

I get the business part. I get that it's cutthroat. I just think that running back contracts have to be structured in a certain way.

Why? And how would that work? The RBs don't have the leverage to force that. Do you think that teams should voluntarily give up the ability to make their best deal for the team?

 

[RamDino]

I really like, however, that rookies have a pay scale. It sucked watching them getting paid millions of guaranteed money over the veterans, especially when they turned out to be busts.

 

[tklongball]

QBs in the NFL have the leverage, because there aren't enough to go around. RBs, not so much. This isn't charity. This is the business of winning football games; of being the best at playing the salary cap game, and you don't win by throwing money around where you don't have to.

 

[Memento]

Why? And how would that work? The RBs don't have the leverage to force that. Do you think that teams should voluntarily give up the ability to make their best deal for the team?

Of course not. Teams always have to make the best for the team. I don't know. I'll be honest: I just don't know how it would work. I know running backs have little value. I know they have no leverage.

Maybe it's just that I feel for them the most out of all of the football players. Even the unknown rookie that enters the league at running back has tread on their tires from high school and college running them into the ground. They will get CTE. They will struggle with many physical ailments. I know that they chose it, but it doesn't make me feel any less bad for them, and it's molded my thoughts into thinking that they deserve to ask for as much as they can get.

Ultimately, money doesn't mean shit if you struggle with physical ailments or CTE. It just means you get to spend your hard-earned money on constant medical stuff.

 

[RamDino]

The owners are lucky to have a salary cap. If they didn't, the NFL would become like baseball and the small market teams would never win. These salary issues have to get solved through the player's union.

 

[tklongball]

Of course not. Teams always have to make the best for the team. I don't know. I'll be honest: I just don't know how it would work. I know running backs have little value. I know they have no leverage.

Maybe it's just that I feel for them the most out of all of the football players. Even the unknown rookie that enters the league at running back has tread on their tires from high school and college running them into the ground. They will get CTE. They will struggle with many physical ailments. I know that they chose it, but it doesn't make me feel any less bad for them, and it's molded my thoughts into thinking that they deserve to ask for as much as they can get.

Ultimately, money doesn't mean shit if you struggle with physical ailments or CTE. It just means you get to spend your hard-earned money on constant medical stuff.

I hear what you are saying. They could make different choices, but they are clearly willing to do it for the money. Personally, I don't feel bad for them. We all make choices and have to live with the consequences.

 

[Memento]

I hear what you are saying. They could make different choices, but they are clearly willing to do it for the money. Personally, I don't feel bad for them. We all make choices and have to live with the consequences.

That's fair, and I get what you're saying. I've made my own choices that I've had to live with. I just...I don't know. I don't know why, but I just...I feel for people more than most.