For most people, $10 million is historic wealth, more money than they’ll earn in a lifetime. For the very fortunate few, it’s retirement savings. To Saquon Barkley, $10 million is an insult. Or at least it’s not enough to come to work as a running back for the New York Giants, the amount offered to him for the upcoming season under what’s known as the franchise tag, where the team offers the average of the top five players in the League at that position. Which means that for the time being, Barkley, one of the team’s star players, is poised to sit out training camp if not longer.
There had been efforts to avoid this. The two sides – Barkley and the Giants – had been close to a long-term deal, but couldn’t meet Monday’s signing deadline. They could still agree on this one-year contract, but as for a more substantial payday, that won’t happen until at least next year’s off-season. Until then it’s a game of chicken that will likely take us to opening kickoff. The same goes for Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs, who must also now decide between ten million or sitting out, also unable to strike a long-term deal with his team. And not for nothing, a whole bunch of top running backs – add Tony Pollard to the list – are in this same boat, taking the one-year deal because the long-term market for NFL running backs is about the same for clothing at H&M – cheap and disposable. Which is also why the franchise tag amount for running backs is far below other positions, including a gaudy 32 million for quarterbacks but also over 11 million for tight ends, not exactly the Mercedes of the NFL.
This offer isn’t any particular insult of Saquon Barkley. He’s been good, making two Pro Bowls in five years. He’s often injured, which is not uncommon of those in the position. He’s also a rare number two overall pick, a draft spot often reserved for QB’s and receivers and elite linemen and defenders. Running Backs are decidedly middle class, picked ahead of punters and kickers, but rarely first round material. There’s obvious reasons for that, most notably that they get hurt a lot, the clear result of trying to pound the ball repeated through the defensive line at high speed. And because of that, they don’t last long, making a long-term deal with more guaranteed money a real fiscal liability. Also, running backs in general aren’t integral to the vertical, pass-first disposition of the modern NFL, where teams play for big gains through elite quarterbacks and wide receivers with world class speed. And some would argue running backs are far more replaceable than other positions, especially with a younger athlete fresh out of school with fewer miles on the tires. For those reasons and more, running backs, once a glamour position of professional football, have lost most leverage in getting big, guaranteed money in the NFL. And why Saquon Barkley and others in his literal and figurative position are deciding whether to play for $10 million, an exorbitant sum of money but far less than other players sharing a locker room.
The arguments about what 10 million means to an average person are fairly useless. Professional football players aren’t considering their worth based on the salaries of a regional distribution manager hustling to make a mortgage payment. We live in a market based economy, where talent, scarcity, and perceived value dictate salaries, not whether someone thinks it’s an insult to teachers and nurses everywhere – and if we actually collectively believed that, we’d pay nurses like linemen. The question seems to be whether that same logic that gave Barkley and other pro running backs their vast wealth can also be used as an artificial turf ceiling. Some have already argued that something should be done to make sure NFL teams don’t seemingly collude to suppress what running backs make because they get hurt more or might be easy to replace. And as egalitarian as that sounds, by that logic, no one in the League, running backs included, would make ten million in the first place, at least not where the rest of the people working in any team organization make a small fraction of that. Capitalism has it’s pros and cons. NFL running backs get to experience both.
Is 10 million a lot? It’s a matter of perspective. But for Saquon Barkley, it’s all he’s going to get.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler
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