RBs could get a boost in this year’s draft thanks to Saquon Barkley’s success

The days of the runners are the main main ones in the NFL draft are long in the past, with the change of the league to more passes, which leads to field marshals, passenger corridors and passenger blockers that dominate the draft every year.

The ingredients could be in their place for a little change this year to one of the deepest classes of runners in years after a season when the game changes back as Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry became hits.

“When I was a child, the corridor was possibly the most importing position in the field,” said the general manager of the Ravens, Eric Decosta, in the [NFL Scouting Combine]. “I grew up a cowboys fan, Tony Dorsett, Immitt Smith, guys like that were my idols. Then we went through this period in the last five, 10 years, where the analytics certainly dismissed the position. I think the last yar, you think the last yar, you think.

“I think (the runners) are considerable replaceable by some people, but if you have an excellent, you have a historic, you simply cannot replace those guys.”

The big question addressed to Draft Thorsday is whether the teams see the perspectives such as Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton of North Carolina as those types of their backs worthy of being tasks with a premium choice.

Jeanty was projected in the final AP Mock draft to pass the sixth to Las Vegas, which would be the highest choice for a corridor since Barkley was the second tasks in general in 2018 by the New York giants.

[MORE: Cowboys take RB, but not Ashton Jeanty, in Colin Cowherd’s 2025 NFL mock draft]

“We just saw Saquon Barkley simply changing the Eagles in a year,” said Raiders General Manager John Spytek. “Now they had a great team around them and he was attached as an elite player. I think when you feel where we sit down, I mean that the idea is to add elite players in any position. I do not try to form any certain position. [are] Certain ways to build a team, and I don’t know where we get to a place where we don’t feel that runners are valued. I come from the University of Michigan to my nucleus, and those guys were certainly really valued there, so it is difficult for me to get away from that. “

Only a corridor in the last six drafts were the tasks in the Top 10, with Bijan Robinson going eighth to Atlanta in 2023. Five runners were the 10 best selections from 2015 to 2018, with two tasks that High and Christian Fournetthe.

It is a time of Crylier when the runners were of the best general selection, including four times in five seasons from 1977 to 1981. No corridor has been the first in general since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995.

The teams have been waiting later and then take runners, with Jonathan Brooks the first to go to Carolina number 46 last year. There has only been a two -task of runners at the top 50 in the last six drafts, below a peak or 12 in 1990.

[MORE: Broncos HC Sean Payton: Running back will be a ‘focus’ in 2025 NFL Draft]

This year’s class of runners is one of the deepest in recent memory, with several players after Jeanty and Hampton project to be chosen at the end of the first round or on day two of the draft, including the Ohio State of Treveyon’s duo; Kaleb Johnson de Iowa; Cam Skattebo from the state of Arizona, Dylan Sampson de Tennessee; Bhaysshul Tuthen of Virginia Tech; and RJ Harvey of UCF.

[MORE: NFL Draft RB matchmaker: Best team fits for Ashton Jeanty, Skattebo, top 10 backs]

The change of a ruin to an air league began with changes in the rules in 1978 that facilitated the passage and has continued for more than four decades.

The race rate decreased from a maximum after the fusion of almost 58% in 1977 to a minimum of just over 40% in 2014 before suffering a slight increase in recent years to 43.4% last season.

But the Bell-Cow had mostly disappeared as teams alone to a field for the committee. The League had 13 players in 2003 that had 300 carry at least in a season that combines the combined total of nine years of 2015-23.

Six players reached the 300 prison mark last season, led by Barkley and Henry for most in a season since 2010.

“For a while, the market was perhaps suppressed,” said Bills Brandon Beane general manager. “People didn’t look at them as weapons. I don’t even look for them as anyone who adds to their offensive. What do they bring? What is their skill set? Is it a player who does not match?

With the diminished paper of the new appearance, the payment in the position has also suffered, with the setback of Josh Jacobs, leading a $ 48 million agreement with Green Bay, tied for 159º among all the players. The $ 13.6 million franchise label number for runners determined by the best paid players in each position, is the lowest of any position outside the specialists.

The rookie salary scale implemented in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement determines the salaries for the first four seasons only in the draft position, which leads the equipment to use premium selections in high value positions, such as field marshal, passenger and reward runners.

[MORE: NFL Draft: Which positions are most and least valued over the past decade?]

That is an important factor that is difficult to overcome for some teams.

“It is an interesting conversation, because the draft selection is a potential roof, the ability to play at a certain level, while it has those years under contract below the market level of free agency, its ability to support a second contract”, the Vikings GM Kwesi adofo-dim-dimensional-dimensus. “There are all thesis questions that enter that answer before taking out the card.”

Associated Press reports.

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