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New York Giants running back Saquon BarkleyKevin Sabitus/Getty Images
Ongoing discussions surrounding running back devaluation are misplaced. The same can be said of the recent public comments from Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. Though the two are indirectly tied together and serve as the crux of the problem.
Everything stems from the current collective bargaining agreement and how it actively works against running backs as opposed to other positions.
“We have negotiated a CBA, that took years of effort and hard work and compromise in good faith by both sides,” Irsay wrote Wednesday on Twitter. “To say now that a specific player category wants another negotiation after the fact, is inappropriate. Some agents are selling ‘bad faith.'”
The Colts roster just so happens to feature one of the game’s premier backs in Jonathan Taylor, who entered the initial window to discuss a contract extension this offseason.
Upon seeing Irsay’s comments, Taylor’s agent, Malki Kawa, responded: “Bad faith is not paying your top offensive player.”
Public squabbling based on individual situations overlooks the bigger picture.
Negotiations between the owners and NFLPA included the advent of the rookie wage scale in 2011. The league’s owners emphasized this particular point after Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick a year earlier and became the game’s highest-paid player without ever playing a snap.
Now fully implemented over 12 years, each rookie’s salary is slotted depending on draft positioning, with a slight increase over the previous contract at the same slot.
For example, Travon Walker signed a fully guaranteed four-year, $37.4 million contract after the Jacksonville Jaguars made him the No. 1 overall pick last year. Bryce Young agreed to a fully guaranteed four-year, $38 million deal with the Carolina Panthers this year. Bradford initially signed a six-year, $78 million contract with $50 million in guarantees.
The NFLPA essentially threw non-members under the bus. The union’s primary focus revolved around the overall revenue split, salary floors and player safety during the last two rounds of negotiations. Those issues are greatly slanted toward veterans.
Incoming players, who aren’t initially part of the union, didn’t have a chance to speak for themselves. So, owners got what they wanted when it came to the rookie salary scale and how those deals are generally structured.
As of now, a recent draft pick can’t renegotiate his initial contract until after his third year in the league. Here’s where it becomes problematic for running backs: Their position skews younger, particularly in usage and effectiveness.
Teams are willing to invest in running backs, but the older they get and more wear they endure, the less valuable they become. Other positions can demand significant money on their second or even third contract as they near and surpass the 30-year-old plateau. At that point, a running back’s career is basically over in today’s NFL.
“I don’t think anything’s getting done until players are educated about all the issues and they have the proper representation of the collective bargaining agreement negotiations,” agent Blake Baratz told Yahoo Sports’ Tyler Greenawalt and Liz Roscher. “And ultimately I don’t think anything’s getting done until players are willing to not step on the field.”
How can it change for all players to maximize their earning prowess? Well, it can’t immediately. But there are some ways to keep rookie slotting for the owners yet provide running backs opportunities to cash in sooner based on performance since the nuclear option of nixing the current system almost certainly won’t be on the table.
Allow Players to Renegotiate Sooner Based on Performance
The Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor led the NFL in rushing during the 2021 campaign. Joshua Bessex/Getty Images
The NFLPA did create incentives to maximize a first-round pick’s fifth-year option based on his level of play.
“With two or more Pro Bowl selections on the original ballot during the first three seasons of contracts, the fifth-year salary is the franchise tender, which is the average of the five highest salaries, for a player’s position in the fourth year of his contract,” former agent and CBS Sports contributor Joel Corry wrote. “One Pro Bowl selection on the original ballot during the first three seasons of deals puts the fifth-year salary at the transition tender, which is average of the 10 highest salaries, for a player’s position in the fourth year of his contract.”
Similar approaches could be taken in all rookie deals to allow earlier negotiating windows based on performance. Instead of waiting until Year 3 to make a decision and then worry about a player’s salary down the road, contracts could be structured for a window to open sooner based on certain triggers.
That would also apply to players selected outside of the first round.
If a player is an All-Pro or Pro Bowl-caliber player right out of the gate, he should be rewarded instead of having to wait another year or two before signing an extension. While owners might be reluctant to pay a premium after one or two good seasons, it would create some flexibility beyond the current setup.
Change Escalators In Rookie Contracts
Seattle Seahawks rookie Kenneth Walker III was one of three running backs last season–alongside the Cleveland Browns’ Nick Chubb and Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry–to rush for more than 1,000 yards, score nine or more rushing touchdowns and break 10 or more runs of 20 or more yards. Steph Chambers/Getty Images
The majority of draft picks don’t even have fifth-year options in their rookie contracts. Instead, they have escalators placed in their deals, as Corry described:
“Third through seventh-round picks have a base salary escalator for their fourth year based on participating in a minimum of 35 percent of the offensive or defensive plays, whichever is applicable, in two of the first three seasons of their deals or an average of at least 35 percent playtime in their first three seasons. This is referred to in the CBA as the Proven Performance Escalator (PPE). The salary equals the lowest restricted free agent tender in the fourth year. The 2019 salary for 2016 third through seventh-round picks that earned the PPE is $2.025 million.”
Any player under a rookie deal who reaches the PPE standard and clearly outplays his rookie contract should be provided with significantly higher bonuses commensurate with their play.
For example, San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga is coming off a Pro Bowl nod and being named a first-team All-Pro. However, the 2021 fifth-round draft pick is set to make only $940,000 in base salary this coming season. His average annual salary ranks 140th overall among his position group, according to Spotrac. The NFL’s five highest-paid safeties average $16 million or more annually.
While adding bonuses to a rookie contract can’t fully replace the lost income of an early standout compared to an established veteran’s pay, they could lessen the gap to some degree.
Eliminate Fifth-Year Options For First-Rounders
The Pittsburgh Steelers must decide whether to pick up Najee Harris’ fifth-year option after this season. Joe Sargent/Getty Images
Players who worked their way into being first-round draft picks are at the mercy of the organization when it comes to when they’re paid and how much. Teams can simply pick up these players’ fifth-year option to delay their big payday by another year.
The sooner a young can player can enter free agency, the more likely he is to maximize his worth. That’s especially true for running backs.
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley will be 27 by the time he’s an unrestricted free agent (if the Giants don’t franchise-tag him again). That would have come a year sooner had the fifth-year option not existed. How long will his next contract realistically be?
Running backs are in a difficult position since they’re most valuable when they’re young and cheap. Front offices tend to believe running backs are largely fungible. However, a few tweaks to the rookie wage scale could help create give running backs more opportunities to cash in based on what they do on the field.
The NFL may never return to being a running-back-driven league like it once was. However, there are ways for the league to make running backs feel more fairly treated.
Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @brentsobleski.
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