Steelers Hall of Famer Says Future RB Market on Saquon Barkley

The running back market is one of the biggest debates in football. There’s no clear solution to it but it seems that the running backs are going to try and take action. Austin Ekeler, running back from the Los Angeles, told Pro Football Talk that he is going to organize a zoom meeting for Saturday night and that all of the top running backs will be jumping on to discuss the market. Steelers running back Najee Harris figures to be there.

This comes on the heels of three running backs, Tony Pollard, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs, who were all on franchise tags not getting long-term extensions. Steelers legend Jerome Bettis was asked about the market and what he sees right now, and for him, he thinks a lot of it will depend upon what happens with Barkley in the coming months.

“Every now and then, you get those special running backs that still exist. You see guys that deserve the money,” Bettis said to SI Right Now. “We see a situation in New York right now that’s really showing that he’s worth the money. But now, because the devaluation has happened, the team is less likely to give him the money that he deserves. What Saquon does, that will determine the future of the running back position.”

A lot of the issue comes down to the value of running backs. Teams believe they are fungible and that they can win without a top running back. In the past few years, that has been true when looking at the league trends. While top running backs can take you to the postseason, they sometimes do not take you to the promised land. Not just that, but Bettis sees a schematic change as the catalyst for a lot of the changes.

“It’s disappointing, but you understand what it is,” Bettis said. “And when you look at what it actually is, it’s a devaluation of the running back position, but it’s because if you go back and look at the college game, the college game has really changed what the high school players look like. So, now that the college game is really four wide receivers, and wasn’t a lot of running, then there was really only five or six schools who focused on running the football pro-style.”

Regardless, the running backs are getting together to try and make a change. Harris figures to be there after calling the entire idea ‘a joke’ last week. It will not be easy to get something to change, but collectively they are hoping that something changes at this point.