This got me thinking...
NFL running backs were so valuable up until around 2000. In the 90s we saw so many Super Bowl teams with great RBs, and same with the 80s, 70s, 60s, and 50s. But in the 90s, I remember Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas, Terrell Davis, Ricky Waters, etc. The running back position used to be as valuable as the QB.
At least that was the perception.
With the exception of real superstar RBs like Jim Brown and Barry Sanders, do you think running backs are generally overrated in NFL history? Is it mostly the blocking, strong passing game that keeps defenses back, etc? Or is the plug n play running back a phenomenon of the last twenty years?
It's worth noting that, of the examples you chose, only Sanders and Smith were 1st round picks. Terrell Davis was sort of the canary in the coal mine. He was a 6th round pick who blew up in a Shanahan offense. After he retired, so did Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Clinton Portis, and a host of others.
Even historically, a great running back hasn't really translated to team success. Jim Brown certainly led his teams to success, but he was playing with a Hall of Fame quarterback. Barry Sanders played on losing teams. Bo Jackson played on losing teams. OJ Simpson played on losing teams. Eric ****erson played on losing teams. These are many of the special running backs since the merger, and they didn't make enough of a difference to elevate their teams. Meanwhile, a guy like Ricky Watters, who really was a Kevin Faulk-level receiving back but not a particularly special
running back, played on a lot of winning teams. Helped to have Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens and Steve Young, I guess.
I do think running backs are still valuable, but the attributes of the position that are valuable have changed. Do-it-all players aren't a necessity. You need running backs for short yardage and you need them for pass protection and receiving. If you're Bill Belichick, you need some of them to do special teams. Guys who can only do one or the other, but not both, at an elite level tend to be undervalued and you can pick them up cheaply or in the middle to late rounds of drafts; see James White, for example. And there's just a market glut of decent backs to choose from, so there's no real need to pay a lot when the marginal value of, say, Todd Gurley over Dion Lewis is, at best, pretty small, especially when compared to other positions like quarterback (of course), wide receiver, pass rusher, or cornerback.