Browns RB Nick Chubb ADMITS to being helpless amid rising tensions over pay disparity for running backs in NFL despite Zoom call discussions

The athlete contracts have been increasing year-over-year in the NFL. Fans are witnessing franchise players and other players who have a lot of potential be rewarded via long-term extensions with a significant portion of their payment guaranteed. While this trend has generally benefitted all positions, there is still one position in the NFL that has a big role to play when it comes to helping teams win games. However, their market value remains mediocre at best.

The running back position has been a bittersweet one as some of the most clutch plays have been made by backs, but for years, teams have been reluctant to offer big money to their running backs and lock them in for the long term. This off-season, top running backs such as Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants and Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders were not able to land long-term deals with their respective teams.

This has resulted in Barkley settling for the franchise tag, which will earn him $10.1 million through the next year. The Giants had an option to choose between their RB and their QB. The team decided to offer Daniel Jones a long-term deal and keep their back waiting for an extension this off-season.

In light of this disturbing trend going on across the league, seven of the top running backs got together on a Zoom call on Saturday in order to discuss the path moving forward. Cleveland Browns‘ RB Nick Chubb was one of the athletes who attended this call and could not help but come to terms with the brutal truth that there is not really much that they can do.

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Nick Chubb believes running backs are not paid anywhere close to their true worth

Chubb stated to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, “Right now, there’s really nothing we can do. We’re kind of handcuffed with the situation. We’re the only position that our production hurts us the most. If we go out there and run 2,000 yards with so many carries, the next year they’re going to say, you’re probably worn down. It’s tough…it hurts us at the end of the day.”

Running backs hit their prime anywhere from 23 to 26. The issue with the position is that they tend to take a brutal beatdown. Football is already a physical game, but the RB position requires these players to repeatedly put themselves in harm’s way. The threat of injury always looms over their heads and they are more susceptible to being injured due to what they put their bodies through. Teams are reluctant to commit to RBs because they do not know if the athlete can be consistent year-over-year.

Nick Chubb is speaking facts and the sad truth is that they are all indeed handcuffed because if they do not produce, they ruin whatever minimal chances they have of securing a big deal and even if they do produce, well, then they’d get a short-term contract but again the question of “Will he be able to do this again next year?” will always remain in the heads of GMs.

It is pretty ironic. Even though an RB may have continuous 2,000-yard seasons, teams will be increasingly reluctant to offer them a long-term deal as they know the risks associated with the position. To add to their woes, history is not on the side of running backs, either. Take the biggest NFL contracts for the position, Ezekiel Elliott signed a 6-year deal worth $90 million with Dallas in 2019 which made him the highest-paid RB ever, however, after that, his yield began to decrease every year, and fast forward to 2023, Dallas has had to cut him.

The same goes with Todd Gurley when he signed a deal with the Los Angeles Rams for 4-years worth $57.5 million but he never was able to perform as well due to his surgically repaired left knee which ultimately ended up in the Rams moving on from him.

The same was the case with Le’Veon Bell and the New York Jets as well. The team signed him for 4-years and paid him $52.5 million, but his production just was not the same as before. While the Jets’ did not utilize him to his maximum potential, when he began to signal that he wanted out of the team and went on to be released, the situation did hurt the position of running backs in the bigger picture.

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