RB salaries comparison in 2017 Free Agency

[Biffins]

Pats are paying:
Burkead - 1yr $3.2m
Gillislee - 2yr $6.4m

Other teams are paying:
Adrian Peterson - 2yr $7m
Jamaal Charles - 1yr $1m
Danny Woodhead - 3yr $8.8m
Latavius Murray - 3yr $15m
Jacquiz Rodgers - 2yr $3.3m
Eddie Lacy - 1yr $4.2m
Robert Turbin - 2yr $2.7m
Lance Dunbar - 1yr $1.5m
Darren McFadden - 1yr $1m
Tim Hightower - 1yr $1.1m
C. J. Spiller - 1yr $1m
Cedric Peerman - 1yr $1.1m

So besides Latavius Murray's $5m avg, Pats are paying their RBs as much or more than other more established names in the league. I understand the Pats are paying for future performance, but is it fair to say the contracts seem a bit rich in comparison to a number of guys signed this FA for $1 or $2m. What am I missing here? Do we suddenly value the position more than others?

 

[WaterfallJumper]

We still have a lot of cap space, and they're both very good players who should shine here in their roles. Doesn't seem like a big deal, although it's a slight departure from previous years. Gillislee's deal was largely structured so that the Bills wouldn't match. On the open market I expect we would have offered a little less.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Gillislee and Burkhead performed very well in their opportunities last season. All of the players you listed are coming off of worse seasons than the two the Pats signed, and all are either past their prime/have injury concerns/are fat/weren't that good to begin with.

I like the two players, was hoping for one of them and am very happy they signed both. There's a very good chance a few guys on your list have big seasons, but I'm good with the Pats' backfield.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Pats are paying:
Burkead - 1yr $3.2m
Gillislee - 2yr $6.4m

Other teams are paying:
Adrian Peterson - 2yr $7m
Jamaal Charles - 1yr $1m
Danny Woodhead - 3yr $8.8m
Latavius Murray - 3yr $15m
Jacquiz Rodgers - 2yr $3.3m
Eddie Lacy - 1yr $4.2m
Robert Turbin - 2yr $2.7m
Lance Dunbar - 1yr $1.5m
Darren McFadden - 1yr $1m
Tim Hightower - 1yr $1.1m
C. J. Spiller - 1yr $1m
Cedric Peerman - 1yr $1.1m

So besides Latavius Murray's $5m avg, Pats are paying their RBs as much or more than other more established names in the league. I understand the Pats are paying for future performance, but is it fair to say the contracts seem a bit rich in comparison to a number of guys signed this FA for $1 or $2m. What am I missing here? Do we suddenly value the position more than others?

It's a reasonable point to make but the Pats are pretty good at sizing up the market for a player and not overpaying.

Me thinks if the Pats didn't pay Burk someone would have.

Gillislee is tougher to call as he was a RFA but clearly he's a good player.

Both are young too so that needs to be considered

 

[Uptown]

• Patriots’ spending on the running back position has increased from $4.32 million (LeGarrette Blount, James White, Dion Lewis, and Brandon Bolden) to $13.24 million in 2017 (Mike Gillislee, Rex Burkhead, White, and Lewis).

 

[BTTA]

Yeah, it's a good post, and there are good reasons for the valuation of these players.
The depth is to be celebrated.

 

[moosekill]

Runningbacks are important, they are in every play, they run they block they catch passes. However, because of rule and game changes they have gone from being viewed as the second most important player on the offense, after the QB, to an afterthought. They are now undervalued on the NFL market. For almost any other position, we wouldn't be talking about a $6 million 2 year contract as being high.

The Patriots have lots of available cap space. While I liked Blount, he did nothing in the playoffs. BB understands you win in the NFL by taking away what your opponent does best they making them beat you in other ways. Last year, if teams were able to take away the quick short passing game, Blount wasn't able to beat them. I believe that BB decided to make the running game a priority, and rather than spend cheap $$'s on old running backs that are often injured, he decided to spend a little more $$ on young up and coming rb's that can hit the hole quickly, block and catch a pass. The little more $$ is really very small in the context as the cap as a whole, so it makes great sense to me.

 

[moosekill]

I also think the game is changing again. Teams are shifting their d's to more db's and safetys, having a few huge guys upfront but minimizing them. Like the Patriots do. I would argue, a running back that can hit the hole fast and break through the line will become more valuable as time goes on. If teams could control the line, Blount was ineffective, but James White was able to be very effective against Atlanta, my guess is BB saw that and decided to make a change.

 

[hornetfb85]

Kraft saw that J.G. Wentworth 877-CASH-NOW commercial and thought it is my money, what the hell, sign the beasts.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Pats are paying:
Burkead - 1yr $3.2m
Gillislee - 2yr $6.4m

Other teams are paying:
Adrian Peterson - 2yr $7m
Jamaal Charles - 1yr $1m
Danny Woodhead - 3yr $8.8m
Latavius Murray - 3yr $15m
Jacquiz Rodgers - 2yr $3.3m
Eddie Lacy - 1yr $4.2m
Robert Turbin - 2yr $2.7m
Lance Dunbar - 1yr $1.5m
Darren McFadden - 1yr $1m
Tim Hightower - 1yr $1.1m
C. J. Spiller - 1yr $1m
Cedric Peerman - 1yr $1.1m

So besides Latavius Murray's $5m avg, Pats are paying their RBs as much or more than other more established names in the league. I understand the Pats are paying for future performance, but is it fair to say the contracts seem a bit rich in comparison to a number of guys signed this FA for $1 or $2m. What am I missing here? Do we suddenly value the position more than others?

Those names all have question marks or are older.

If Zeke Elliot was on the market he would get huge money.

Pats paid for potential production based on a sample size and their youth.

 

[goheels22002]

Pats are paying:
Burkead - 1yr $3.2m
Gillislee - 2yr $6.4m

Other teams are paying:
Adrian Peterson - 2yr $7m
Jamaal Charles - 1yr $1m
Danny Woodhead - 3yr $8.8m
Latavius Murray - 3yr $15m
Jacquiz Rodgers - 2yr $3.3m
Eddie Lacy - 1yr $4.2m
Robert Turbin - 2yr $2.7m
Lance Dunbar - 1yr $1.5m
Darren McFadden - 1yr $1m
Tim Hightower - 1yr $1.1m
C. J. Spiller - 1yr $1m
Cedric Peerman - 1yr $1.1m

So besides Latavius Murray's $5m avg, Pats are paying their RBs as much or more than other more established names in the league. I understand the Pats are paying for future performance, but is it fair to say the contracts seem a bit rich in comparison to a number of guys signed this FA for $1 or $2m. What am I missing here? Do we suddenly value the position more than others?

You are missing the players' ages and carries. Gillislee and Burkhead have years of rubber on their tires. McFadden, Charles and Peterson are jalopies. NFL RBs who carry the ball a lot have 3 to 4 year careers before the hits take their toll. Burkhead has a total 87 carries in 4 years and Gillislee has 153 in five years (he missed an entire year, and only played in 3 games his rookie year.) In terms of playing time, these guys are like 2nd year players but they come with 4 and 5 years experience around NFL teams. I like what BB did here a lot.

 

[Ring 6]

Pats are paying:
Burkead - 1yr $3.2m
Gillislee - 2yr $6.4m

Other teams are paying:
Adrian Peterson - 2yr $7m
Jamaal Charles - 1yr $1m
Danny Woodhead - 3yr $8.8m
Latavius Murray - 3yr $15m
Jacquiz Rodgers - 2yr $3.3m
Eddie Lacy - 1yr $4.2m
Robert Turbin - 2yr $2.7m
Lance Dunbar - 1yr $1.5m
Darren McFadden - 1yr $1m
Tim Hightower - 1yr $1.1m
C. J. Spiller - 1yr $1m
Cedric Peerman - 1yr $1.1m

So besides Latavius Murray's $5m avg, Pats are paying their RBs as much or more than other more established names in the league. I understand the Pats are paying for future performance, but is it fair to say the contracts seem a bit rich in comparison to a number of guys signed this FA for $1 or $2m. What am I missing here? Do we suddenly value the position more than others?

You created a list of guys that for various reasons are undesirable.
Other than Murray, whose own team was down in him the only players on that list who you could really expect to contribute here have major injury and age issues.
They got paid less than our guys because either a) they suck or b) they are likely done

 

[goheels22002]

You created a list of guys that for various reasons are undesirable.
Other than Murray, whose own team was down in him the only players on that list who you could really expect to contribute here have major injury and age issues.
They got paid less than our guys because either a) they suck or b) they are likely done

Gillislee and Burkhead come without big egos. These rookie RBs with skills come from years of being the man in their respective settings and the NFL can be a shock, especially a team like New England that sees the running game as secondary to the pass. I am glad that the Pats stayed away from some of the big names on the market. I would love to see LGB back, though.

 

[Simpelton]

I think the patriots did a great job finding value to invest in. Goes to show how underpaid Blount was. But I am fairly confident that we have upgraded at running back.

One thing we definitely gained is a huge factor which is that we are well protected against injury at a very injury prone position. As long as everyone is performing at a decent level we ought to have a very strong running attack.

 

[borg]

Would you pay more for a pristine conditioned used car coming off a low mileage lease with a clean CarFax...or.... for a high mileage older car with a CarFax showing a welded frame and a long history of engine and body work.
For BB....Certified PreOwned is the theme this year at RB, WR, DE, TE, DB

 

[ALP]

Its certainly an interesting trend, and i think we do need to look at the bigger picture

i dont think the answer is that we have cap this year, as BB wont spend unresponsibly due to that, i think he sees something happening w/ the RB position in the next few years that will make these good deals, and I'm not sure what it is

the realization that we just need better RBs during playoffs so that our offensive success is not copletely on the pass game is also an option, we had that issue 2 years ago and 1 year ago (im considering latest superbowl as being this year)...to begin with as lombardi said BB knew we had to be able to win when opposing defense went small/quick to stop our pass game that the run game would be the ticket, i think his first move was to improve Oline, and now he sees that even during recent SB run that wasn't enough, so RB is logical next step

plus...he might also be paying for future comp picks...if these guys play really well, and we cant retain them, they will get deals a lot more expensive than ones we just signed them for...so in essence in a year w/ lots of room in our cap, we are assuring we get future comp picks when another team signs them

 

[mgteich]

Doesn't seem like a big deal, although it's a slight departure from previous years.

Some consider it a big deal to triple the money allocated to the Rb position.

 

[Biffins]

You created a list of guys that for various reasons are undesirable.
Other than Murray, whose own team was down in him the only players on that list who you could really expect to contribute here have major injury and age issues.
They got paid less than our guys because either a) they suck or b) they are likely done

Sorry, this isn't cherry picking. These are all the 2017 Free Agency contracts awarded to RBs more $1m per year or more. I didn't create the list. What you are basically saying is that the entire roster of available RBs in 2017 FA were undesirable.

 

[Biffins]

Gillislee and Burkhead come without big egos. These rookie RBs with skills come from years of being the man in their respective settings and the NFL can be a shock, especially a team like New England that sees the running game as secondary to the pass. I am glad that the Pats stayed away from some of the big names on the market. I would love to see LGB back, though.

Not sure how Petersen, Charles etc are big names if they are paid the same as Burkhead and Gillesle

 

[Gumby]

Sorry, this isn't cherry picking. These are all the 2017 Free Agency contracts awarded to RBs more $1m per year or more. I didn't create the list. What you are basically saying is that the entire roster of available RBs in 2017 FA were undesirable.

Ok, you can call it not cherry picking because you grabbed all the FAs. But by DEFINITION OF FA you are cherry picking. For Good players in their prime, a good team generally doesn't let them get to free agency. The FAs are either broken down or guys coming off initial rookie contracts. Compare the Pats 2FAs cost to all the #1RBs and that would be more relevant.