Broncos Legend, Hall of Famer Terrell Davis: Today's NFL 'Game Would Have Killed Me'

Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis, who starred in the late 1990s with the Denver Broncos, said in a recent interview that "today's game would have killed me."

Davis made his remarks to The Athletic's Jim Trotter, who noted how the devaulation of the running back in today's game could lead to fewer of them landing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"Today's game would have killed me," Davis told Trotter.

"It's funny now. I coach youth football, and I coach the old-school way for running backs, but most of my periods with them are spent running routes because I know that's where the game is. I can't get them stuck in 1990 where it was all about how you run zone and wide zones and counters and draws.

"They're not running that stuff now. I'm giving them some of it, but most of what I give them is pass protection and receiver drills. I want them to be up with the times, so that when they go to the next level they're not behind. I would never teach that if the game was played the way I played because you didn't need to know that."

Davis is likely selling himself short a bit. He was simply fantastic as a workhorse running back in Denver from 1995-1998, averaging 336 carries, 1,603 rushing yards and 14 scores on the ground per season.

Although the game has moved away from giving bellcow backs close to 400-plus touches a year (for the most part), Davis was still an electric ball carrier who helped lead the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl titles. He could have certainly found his niche in today's game.

He still saw a decent amount of pass work (38 catches per season during his four-year prime), although that pales in comparison to the aerial attacks of today. Per StatMuse, 18 running backs had more than 38 receptions in 2022, with the Los Angeles Chargers' Austin Ekeler racking up 107.

In that sense, Davis maybe wouldn't have been the greatest fit in today's pass-happy NFL, where running backs are struggling to find lucrative second contracts (e.g. Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley and Tony Pollard). That wasn't an issue for TD in 1998, when he signed a nine-year, $56.1 million contract with an $11 million signing bonus.

Unfortunately, injuries curtailed the final three years of Davis' career, but he still earned a well-deserved place in the Hall in 2017. However, it remains to be seen if we'll be seeing a proliferation of running backs headed to Canton down the road with the league's offensive direction shying away from the position these days.