Ex-Giants running back Brandon Jacobs gave his take on the Saquon Barkley contract drama and proposed a shocking solution to the problem.
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley's public contract dispute has been the headline of the offseason, coming to a climax with Barkley and the Giants failing to negotiate a deal by the deadline on Monday.
That means Barkley will play under the $10.1 million franchise tag for running backs this year — assuming he signs the tender, of course.
Barkley joins Cowboys' Tony Pollard and Raiders' Josh Jacobs as the top running backs who haven't secured long-term extensions with their respective teams. Is the position in decline? What should the league do moving forward?
Former Giants running back and two-time Super Bowl champ Brandon Jacobs unsurprisingly backed Barkley in a recent post online. He also dropped a bomb as to his proposed fix: get rid of the running back position altogether.
Jacobs echoes the same line of thinking as other top running backs like Derrick Henry, who also suggested the NFL should get rid of the position.
Ex-Giants RB Brandon Jacobs supports Saquon Barkley in ongoing drama
Austin Ekeler went off on the league. So did Christian McCaffrey. The top running backs reportedly even have a private group chat where they vent their frustrations and discuss potential solutions given the current state of the position.
The recent issue of running backs not getting paid could be attributed to a variety of factors: the last Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, won with a seventh-round running back headlining the unit. The Cowboys were one of the most recent teams to give their back, Ezekiel Elliot, a lucrative six-year $90 million deal, and that backfired by the waning years.
Dallas learned its lesson, and other teams also used the Cowboys' experience with Elliott as a cautionary tale.
With so little leverage in today's market, the league's top running backs are fighting for change. Having the support of ex-NFL players may be able to move the needle just a little bit more.
