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July 18 (UPI) — Several NFL running backs expressed their support for Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard, and Josh Jacobs after the news broke that they failed to secure long-term contracts with their respective teams and will likely play on franchise tags.
The New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and Las Vegas Raiders assigned franchise tags to Barkley, Pollard, and Jacobs earlier this offseason. These teams had until 4 p.m. EDT Monday to negotiate long-term deals with the star running backs.
Barkley, Pollard, and Jacobs are now faced with the choice of signing their $10.091 million tenders for the 2023 season or sitting out.
“It is what it is,” Barkley tweeted six minutes before the deadline.
Derrick Henry, an NFL star running back, was the first to respond to the situation. He took to Twitter to address the trend of franchise-tagged running backs not receiving lucrative long-term contracts after their initial rookie deals expired.
“At this point, just take the RB position out of the game then,” Henry tweeted. “The ones that want to be great and work as hard as they can to give their all to an organization, it seems like it doesn’t even matter. I’m with every RB that’s fighting to get what they deserve.”
Henry himself was a second-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. After playing on a 4-year, $5.4 million rookie deal, he was franchise tagged by the Tennessee Titans in March 2020. Four months later, he agreed to a 4-year, $50 million contract.
Other running backs such as Austin Ekeler and Christian McCaffrey also expressed their support for the players who received franchise tags in the latest round of contracts.
Austin Ekeler, who went undrafted and was signed by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017, also spoke out. He played on a 3-year, $1.67 million rookie deal before signing a 4-year, $24.5 million contract in 2020. Ekeler is set to make $6.2 million in 2023, the final year of his current deal.
Ekeler tweeted, “Everyone knows it’s tough to win without a top RB and yet they act like we are discardable widgets. I support any RB doing whatever it takes to get his bag.”
Christian McCaffrey, who signed a 4-year, $17.24 million rookie deal in 2017, expressed his outrage as well. He later signed a 4-year, $64 million extension with the Carolina Panthers in 2020 but was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in October.
“This is criminal,” McCaffrey tweeted. “Three of the best players (Barkley, Jacobs, and Pollard) in the entire league, regardless of position.”
Other running backs like Jonathan Taylor and Najee Harris also took to Twitter to comment on the situation.
Josh Jacobs, who led the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards in 2022, along with Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb, Saquon Barkley, and Miles Sanders were among the league’s top rushers.
Derrick Henry, who topped the rushing charts in 2019 and 2020, is set to make $10.5 million next season. The highest-paid running back in 2023 will be rookie Bijan Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons, who will earn $13.7 million.
Rookie players will begin reporting to NFL training camps, with veterans following shortly after. Tony Pollard has already signed his franchise tag tender, while Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs have yet to do so, although they cannot be fined for missing offseason programs since they are not technically under contract.
