The Adapt or Die Proposition of the Running Back in the NFL

Teams are continuing to refuse to pay running backs, leading many to think that NFL teams are killing the position. But is it death or forced evolution?

When I was growing up watching the NBA, there was a player on every team that fit the bill of what was called a bruiser or an enforcer. These were typically very strong and physical specimens that usually played power forward. They had limited offensive skills, were capable defenders, and tended to exist to send a message to the other team’s best player. Players like Charles Oakley, Bill Laimbeer, Dale Davis, and Xavier McDaniel fit this bill in the 1980s and 90s.

But then a change occurred. The NBA went to a spacing game, where more three pointers were taken and the mid-range jumper became virtually non-existent. Those jumpers were the lifeblood of enforcers, one of the few things on offense that they did well. And as the need for those shots evaporated, so did the NBA’s need for the enforcer. They were replaced by rangy wing players that could create their own shot and hit some threes if needed.

It seems that the running back in football is suffering the same fate as the enforcer in basketball. In a league that continues to pay its star players more, running back is the only position that is seeing their franchise tag cost decrease. Running…