NFL Agent 'Stopped Recruiting' RBs 'a While Ago' over Injury Concern, Contract Market

One of the stories of the summer in the NFL has been the depressed market for running backs, leading to Dalvin Cook's prolonged free agency before signing a one-year deal with the New York Jets, Josh Jacobs' holdout before agreeing to a reworked deal and Jonathan Taylor's ongoing holdout.

And now even NFL agents are acknowledging that they are wary to invest in the position.

"The market talks, and it's ghosting the running backs. I stopped recruiting them a while ago," an anonymous agent told The Athletic's Ben Standig. "There are special players, but one knee injury can ruin a career."

As for solutions, agents offered Standig a number of possible options, including removing the franchise tag, allowing running backs to become free agents one season sooner, a position-wide strike from players at the position and capping the earning power of quarterbacks.

"This is tied into astronomical salaries for quarterbacks," one agent said. "The fix is tying quarterback salaries to a percentage of the cap, either for the individual or the entire room. Otherwise, you have to steal money from somewhere."

That would be similar to the NBA's model, where max salaries are tied to a percentage of a salary cap. One major difference between the leagues, however, is that NBA contracts are fully guaranteed. NFL salaries are not. Getting NFL players to agree to capped contracts, even at just one position, is potentially an uphill battle.