This week, teams across the NFL shelled out big bucks to sign keys players, but instead of paying quarterbacks and wide receivers, the checkbooks were opened for running backs.
The Falcons Bijan Robinson, the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, and the Lions Jahmyr Gibbs all signed massive deals, proving that running backs still hold high value in the league.
It started on Monday morning with Robinson, the NFL’s 4th leading rusher last year (1,478 yards), who agreed to a three-year, $66.75 million contract that can jump to $75 million.
The record-setting deal made Robinson the highest-paid running back in NFL history with an average of $22.25 million per year, and his guaranteed $51 million is the most ever for a running back.
Then early Thursday morning, news came that Taylor and the Colts agreed on a two-year, $44 million extension that included $39 million guaranteed and the ability for the total value to increase to $47 million.
That gave Taylor, the league’s 3rd leading rusher last season with 1,585 yards, the third-largest deal for a running back in NFL history.
So all that was left was for Gibbs to sign a new deal, and it didn’t take long for a short while after Taylor’s deal was announced, the Lions broke the bank for the young star.
Detroit signed Gibbs to an NFL record-setting three-year, $67.5 million extension worth up to $75.75 million. Gibbs’ new deal edged Robinson in both annual salary ($22.5 million) and guaranteed money ($51.5 million).
The 24-year-old back was the NFL’s 7th leading rusher last season with 1,223 yards and enters the season as the featured back as his former backfield partner, David “Knuckles” Montgomery, is now playing with Houston, so “Sonic” should get even more work this year.
These three deals demonstrate that teams are finally realizing how important the position is.
Kenneth Edwards III proved that in the Super Bowl, when he ran all over the Patriots en route to both a championship and Super Bowl MVP honors. Some might downplay the importance of running backs in the pass-happy NFL, but when it came down to controlling the ball, chewing up the clock, breaking a big run or giving QB support, backs such as Gibbs, Taylor, Robinson, Edwards III, James Cook and Derrick Henry have no equal.
Their importance is why the Cardinals made Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love the third overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
With Bijan and Gibbs both 24 and Taylor 27, their teams have featured backs in their primes, and now they’ve been paid like the stars they are.
