The deadline for players under the franchise tag to sign new deals is just days away, and there looks to be no resolution in sight for the Las Vegas Raiders and their All-Pro back Josh Jacobs. With his 1,653 yards last season, Jacobs totaled the second most in franchise history to Hall of Famer Marcus Allen who rushed for 1,759 yards in 1985.
While the Raiders seem to not be too worried about Jacobs missing training camp, there is a bigger issue at hand regarding how NFL teams see running backs as a whole. Teams have been hesitant to give any major long-term deals to backs after the rookie deals, and they are among the lowest-paid positions across the league.
This is something that Marcus Allen doesn’t like seeing, and he believes this assumption that running backs aren’t worth investing in the long term is flat our wrong, via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk:
“Unfortunately, there is a prevalent assumption made by all of these teams that these top running backs aren’t worth investing into beyond four years and it’s not true,” Allen told Bill Williamson of Silver and Black Pride on Wednesday at the American Century Championship at South Lake Tahoe.
Allen would continue on, believing that the drop off of some running backs shouldn’t automatically affect others and is hopeful that this narrative will change:
“I know there have been some cases were top running backs saw their careers end early, but it’s not all of them,” Allen said. “These teams have to look at it individually. It’s not all of them. You have to value these guys, and they’re sadly undervalued. It’s a copycat league, so one team follows the other when it comes to valuing running backs. It’s prevalent, and I don’t know if it will change, but I’ll be watching and hope it does change. . . . It’s intellectually dishonest.”
Unfortunately, that change doesn’t seem to be coming for Jacobs or New York Giants star back Saquon Barkley this offseason. Both have refused to sign the franchise tender, and there is a belief that Barkley could sit out into the season without a new deal.
It seems less likely that Jacobs would do the same, but he has been open about his frustration and has even spoken up about backs potentially boycotting as a whole. Current and former players have taken note of the treatment of running backs lately, but it is unknown what can be done to change it.
