NFL – WHY RUNNING BACKS ARE MY FAVORITE PLAYERS IN FOOTBALL

Last week, two of the top ten best-selling jerseys in the NFL  were for running backs (Najee Harris- PIT, Derrick Henry – TEN).  

It’s not totally unusual for players at that position to get such recognition by fans but it can be uncommon.  

During any given NFL season, the top selling merch tends to favor quarterbacks or other more charismatic positions involved with the passing game on both sides of the football.  

That makes sense since every offensive play goes through the QB first.  Afterall, they are the faces of most franchises and tend to receive the highest salaries.  

Wide receivers and tight ends are also involved in important scoring plays that draw the most attention from viewers.  

On the other side of the ball, linebackers who sack QBs and disrupt the offense tend to grab the spotlight as well. 

So, for running backs to get some love from the fanbase for a change… it’s nice to see.  

But I’m bias- running backs are my favorite players in the NFL.  To me, they remain the heart and soul of the offensive play on the field.   And, I just love to watch them do their job.

It takes exceptional strength and power for a man to slash his way on the ground through oversized lineman towards the end zone with the football cradled under his arm.   It also requires extreme skill and talent to escape tackles at every turn while also possessing superior speed to outrun his opponent.  

Those are the traits of a classic running back, or “halfback”.  It may not be a very glamorous position in these modern times of the sport where passing is considered sexier.  But rushing the football is still vital to the success of any winning football team.

It’s why I wish backs got more respect from the fans and more money for what they do on the football field.

Did you know the highest paid RB in the NFL makes less than the fourteenth highest paid wide receiver in the league? 

Think of this:  Julio Jones, wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans makes $22 million per year, which is the second highest salary for the position.  So far this season, Jones has only played in 5 games, had 17 receptions for 301 yards and 0 TDs.  The last full season he played was in 2018 when he had a grand total of 8 TDs that year.

Meanwhile, Derrick Henry, running back for the same team, makes $12.5 million per year in comparison.  He has played in all 7 games this year, rushed 191 times for 869 yards and has 10 TDs.  Plus, he has had 18 receptions for 154 receiving yards.  In 2020, he had 17 TDs and rushed for 2,027 yards (the most ever by a RB).  

SO.  It can’t be that the Titans think Henry is $11 million per year LESS VALUABLE than Jones…  Can they? 

All I heard this past weekend on NFL shows was talk of Henry in the running for 2021 MVP.  (Pun intended.)  The other candidates?  All QBs.  

Sure, Henry is a standout.  He’s much larger than the average man at the position at 6’3 and weighing about 250 pounds.  His size surely contributed to his accumulation of 1,073 yards after contact in 2020 which was more than 300 yards than any other back.  It also explains his league leading 34 broken tackles last season.

But the stats show that the other top running backs in the league right now (per yards) may be smaller in stature than Henry, yet they are performing at almost equal strength to their wide receiver counterparts.

That is, outside of the top three wide receivers (per yards), the total numbers of yards and touchdowns each top running back has accumulated is commensurate.  

Also, if we break down the amount of workload running backs endured compared to that of receivers on the field and in the red zone, RBs are having as much of an impact on the outcome of games as WRs.

For example, if we look at the top five running backs so far this season, they have rushed for an average of 122 times.  Meanwhile, the top five wide receivers have had an average of 46 receptions, or 68 targets.  

In the Red Zone, this number expands even more.  According to Lineups.com, the top rushing leaders have more than double the number of attempts, more yards and equal number of touchdowns to receivers in the Red Zone. 

Thus, if running backs are working just as hard or arguably, harder than wide receivers on a regular basis, why are they being so devalued?  

One reason may be the perception that passing is more important to an offense overall due to the number of yards receivers accumulate to push the ball farther down the field. 

Indeed, the top passing teams in the league put the football in the air 300+ yards per game.  Contrast that to the top rushing teams who are in the neighborhood of 150+ yards on the ground per game.

But does more passing yards equal more scoring?  

Not necessarily.

According to TeamRankings.com, there’s almost an equal number of rush-heavy teams scoring the most points per game through the first seven weeks of this season as there are pass-heavy teams.

Looking at the top fifth and sixth ranked teams in the chart below, we see the Titans are a run-heavy team compared to the Rams who are more of a pass-heavy team. Yet, both teams are scoring almost identical points per game and are leading their divisions.

This is just a snapshot into how important running the football is to the bottom-line.  There is much more that goes into how teams and the NFL may assess the value of rushing versus passing.

But I think the stats above help to disprove the theory that running the football has less value and therefore, it justifies paying backs less.

I’ve also heard the disparity could be due to other reasons like backs are more easily replaceable, have shorter careers and the idea of paying 2-3 running backs smaller salaries is more desirable than going all in on one man.

Eh.

Whatever the reasons are that the NFL puts less value in the running back position, it still doesn’t explain why there’s such a huge gap in their salaries compared with how much receivers are getting. Ok, pay them less. But, why so much less?

As for Derrick Henry and what he’s doing in the NFL right now, the good news is that he’s certainly helping to bring the position back onto center stage again.  

And if he wins MVP this season, nine years after the last RB garnered the award (Adrian Peterson – 2012), it just might spark a bump in esteem for this often unappreciated position.

YOUR WEEK 8 CHALLENGE: If you’ve never really watched running backs closely before, I challenge you to keep a close eye on them in upcoming games.  I guarantee you’ll come away with a better awareness for the position and how hard these men grind, day in and day out.  

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