Eagles GM Howie Roseman Reveals Views on NFL RB Debate

There's a theory in the NFL that teams like the Philadelphia Eagles don't value running backs enough.

Supporting that theory are the contract situations that star backs like Eagles rival Saquon Barkley recently endured with the New York Giants and Josh Jacobs with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Because of those issues, running backs otherwise not involved in those deals took to social media to voice their displeasure at the low value being placed on their position across the league.

"We gave LeSean [McCoy] a second contract in that situation," Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman said when asked about the ongoing conflict. "Obviously, Miles [Sanders] was a great player for us. Miss him, wish him the best in Carolina. For where we were this year, we had to make some hard decisions. That was one of them."

The problem, league backs would say, is that when teams have to make these "hard decisions" it too often leads to a running back being unpaid or at best underpaid in terms of either money or long-term security.

In the case of the Giants, that team chose to extend quarterback Daniel Jones despite one season of adequate play while they left Barkley to bake under the pressure of a franchise tag before settling for a one-year deal with some benefits that the tag wouldn't afford him.

The contrast between paying a middle-of-the-road quarterback over one of the league's best running back ignited displeasure and turning it into anger.

"I don't know that we want to make any absolutes on anything," Roseman continued. "We're looking for really good players. We're trying to keep the guys that we draft for as long as possible. I think the way we look at our running back room, it just worked out that a lot of these guys are on one-year deals, but we value the running back position ... I don't think that for us, we would be against signing running backs to long-term deals in that situation."

Fortunately for the Eagles, nobody batted an eye when they extended quarterback Jalen Hurts and ultimately let Sanders walk.

But given the current climate surrounding the running back position and team valuations, even Philadelphia won't escape scrutiny in the future if the court of public opinion or the growing union of running backs feels one of their members has been wronged.

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