2012 NFL Draft: Breaking Down De-Evolution of First-Round Running Backs

Running backs just aren't as important in the NFL anymore.

After racking my brain for a clever way to state how teams are becoming less and less willing to spend a top pick on a running back, this is all I came up with.

But it seems fitting. The importance of grabbing an elite running back is still high, but it is constantly dropping. Really, it's as simple as that.

Or, as Eminem would say, "it's as simple as whistlin' Dixie". 

Anyway, let's take a closer look at the recent de-evolution of first-round running backs. 

It's a passing league

It seems that every season out does the last in terms of overall passing yards and 2011 was no different.

Drew Brees broke Dan Marino's long-standing yards record by throwing for 5,476 of them. In order to get there, Brees had to throw the ball over 41 times per game.

He also had to hold off Aaron Rodgers (4,643 yards, 33.5 att/g), Tom Brady (5,235 yards, 38.2 att/g), and many other QBs who slung the ball all year.

When teams are throwing it 40 times per game, there's not a big need for a running back, especially if he can't catch it. That's why Darren Sproles, a former fourth-round pick, was so valuable.

Even when teams do decide to run the ball, it's becoming more and more running-back-by-committee.

Injuries, injuries, and a couple more injuries

Of the players who are actually allowed to be hit (aka, not quarterbacks), running backs by far are touching the ball more than anyone else. 

A full-time back usually gets right around 200 carries. Subtract his touchdowns and he's getting pounded about 190 times per season, and that's just in the games.

Add in Gregg Williams' bounties to the equation, and it's no surprise running backs are the least durable players in the league.

If a team can get more than five good years out of its running back, it will consider itself lucky. So why spend a top pick on a potential five good years when you can get 10-12 out of a left tackle, quarterback, or pretty much any other position?

Trent Richardson needs to break recent trends

Last year, the first running back taken was Mark Ingram at pick No. 28. Before that, the top running back taken in each of the previous five drafts were as follows:

Ryan Mathews (No. 12), Knowshon Moreno (No. 12), Darren McFadden (No. 4), Adrian Peterson (No. 7), and Reggie Bush (No. 2). 

Three of those guys (Mathews, Moreno, and McFadden) have already had a ton of injury problems and Reggie Bush hasn't lived up to the hype. Peterson is the only running back in the last six drafts (obviously Ingram and Mathews still have some time) that has lived up to his high-pick billing.

And even Peterson was regarded as one of the greatest running back prospects in recent memory, yet he only went No. 7.

In fact, most elite running backs these days were taken after the first round and some weren't even drafted at all. It's becoming too easy to create a valuable running back out of nothing to merit wasting a high pick on one.

Most mock drafts you see probably have Trent Richardson slotted at No. 4 or 5, which goes to show how elite he really is.

With the idea of grabbing a running back with a top pick becoming less crucial as the NFL develops into a passing league, Richardson is going to have be truly elite to live up to his pick.