Analysis
7/30/23
4 min read
RBs Josh Jacobs, Jonathan Taylor Must Make Best of Their Situations
,We need to talk about the running back position a little bit more. You've got some great players with different issues, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to money.
>>READ: Evaluating Barkley's New Deal
It's a shame Josh Jacobs, the NFL's leading rusher last year, is holding out. Saquon Barkley, probably the second- or third-best running back in our league last year, reluctantly signed a contract with the New York Giants. Now, Jonathan Taylor wants a trade from the Indianapolis Colts.
I am a running back coach. Probably to a fault, I appreciate running backs. Tony Dorsett and I were teammates. Emmitt Smith was the backbone of our Super Bowl teams in Dallas. With the Bears, I drafted Rashaan Salaam out of Colorado. I traded for Ricky Williams with the Dolphins and recruited LeSean McCoy, who played for me at the University of Pittsburgh. I get the value of the running back position, and I understand where they're coming from.
But when coaches get hired nowadays — the fans and the owners — all they want to know about is how many points the team will score. And you throw the ball to score points; you run the ball to win games. We've been using that cliché for years, but it's true.
So the owners don't want to hear how many yards the team will rush for to get a head coaching job in the NFL. They want to know how they're going to throw the ball and score points. It's a quarterback league, so the running back position has devalued itself.
What Will the Market Bear?
I've been in coaching for 40 years. I've bought and sold a lot of houses. With every house, I would tell the real estate agent, "My house is worth more than that." And he would tell me, "You think it is? You might be right, but guess what? That's not what the market is, and that's not what someone's willing to pay for your house."
That's the analogy for where the running back position is right now. It's what an owner is willing to pay you for your services. So it's a tough, tough situation right now.
I've had players in all positions that have demanded trades. What happens to the player is one of two things: They demand that trade, go somewhere else, don't get much more money, don't like the city and don't like the new coaching staff. They've got to move their kids into new schools, and they're not happy.
>> READ: Fantasy Impact if Taylor is Traded
The other scenario is guys hold out — and I hope this doesn't happen to Jacobs and Taylor — adopting the mindset they're not being treated fairly, so they're not training as they should train.
They've got a bad mindset, and either they get hurt or they don't have very good years. At the end of the day, they lose money. So it's really important to jump in and go 90 miles an hour.
Can't Get the Money Back
Le'Veon Bell, today, is saying I wish I would have never left the Pittsburgh Steelers. They franchise tagged him. He didn't accept that and sat out the entire 2018 season.
They've got to keep in mind they're losing all that money by holding out. Whatever they were going to pay, they've got to make that up the next year. Is someone going to give them $20 million, plus everything they've lost by having that money in the bank and going to a new team?
So there are a lot of factors involved in it. It's not easy. I hope the running backs can sit down and say, "This might be the best position I can be in right now." That could put them in a good mind frame to have another great year. Then, let's see where it leads next year.
Dave Wannstedt is a former head coach of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins. Follow him on Twitter at @CoachWannstedt.
