NFL Draft preview: Running backs expected to face long wait until names get called

Running back continues to be the most devalued position in the NFL.

That holds true with the franchise tag, fifth-year option and — as likely will be played out late next week — the draft.

Running back is the most affordable — and some would say replaceable — position in football. Consider that while three backs received the franchise tag in 2023, none got a long-term contract and all three — Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard — will play for new teams this season.

In terms of the fifth-year option, a decision the Pittsburgh Steelers must make by May 2 with Najee Harris, the value placed on running backs easily is the lowest of any position. Harris’ worth is valued at $6.79 million in 2025 if the Steelers exercise the option. Even tight ends generate more financial respect.

“They say if you want to get paid, don’t be a running back,” Harris said last summer when he voiced his concerns about his positional pay rate. “The position is an art to me. I’ve always loved the position. You can do so much. It’s almost like you’re a queen in chess because you can do a lot of things: line up out wide, run the ball, protection. You can be implemented in the offense so much.

“For them to say it’s a position that is not as valued is kind of crazy.”

Yet, that is the approach most NFL franchises have taken since the league transitioned into a passer-friendly game earlier this century. And it’s one that has trickled down to the draft — and is likely to continue when picks are announced in Detroit next week.

Over the past four draft cycles, just five running backs have been selected in the first round. The Steelers were part of that group when they took Harris with the No. 24 overall pick in 2022. The following season, no running back was selected until the second round when Breece Hall went to the New York Jets.

Two more runners went in the first round last year — Bijan Robinson (No. 8) to the Atlanta Falcons and Jahmyr Gibbs (No. 12) to the Detroit Lions — but just one was selected in the second. That continued a three-year run in which only three running backs were taken in the top two rounds.

Not since 2021, when Clyde Edwards-Helaire was taken with the final pick of the first round and five running backs went in the second, has the position received any kind of early-round love.

Expect the trend to continue this year. In his latest list of top 50 prospects, NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah doesn’t have a single running back listed. ESPN analyst Field Yates doesn’t have a running back coming off the board until former Florida State runner Trey Benson at pick No. 54. Colleague Mel Kiper Jr. projects former Texas runner Jonathon Brooks to be the first back taken at No. 56.

“You might not have a running back go until the third round,” Kiper said.

Kiper believes NFL talent evaluators are catching up to what he has preached for years.

“A lot of people have jumped on that bandwagon,” he said. “I was getting ripped for it years ago, (with teams saying) ‘It makes no sense, you’re crazy if you say you can’t take a running back in the first round.’ I’ve held to that, maintained that.

“I started it 15 years ago when I said wait on running backs, and you’ll find key performers.”

The Steelers, for one, are a study in contrasts. Although they used a first-round pick on Harris, they complemented him with Jaylen Warren, an undrafted free agent. It is their combined presence on the roster that could lead to the Steelers bypassing the position for the third draft in a row.

At Texas, Brooks played behind the Falcons’ Robinson and Chicago Bears draft pick Roschon Johnson in 2022 before having a breakout season last year. He had 1,139 rushing yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry in eight starts and 11 games.

Brooks was on his way to perhaps becoming a sure second-round pick — or borderline first — when he tore his ACL in November. That injury could sideline him at the start of the season and has opened the door for others to possibly vault past him on draft boards.

Benson led Florida State in rushing for two consecutive seasons following his transfer from Oregon. Jaylen Wright led Tennessee in rushing in his two years as a starter and was second in the nation with a 7.4 yards per carry average in 2023.

Another running back who could hear his name called on the second day is Michigan’s Blake Corum. A two-time Big Ten running back of the year, Corum led FBS players with a school-record 27 rushing touchdowns in 2023 and a team-high 1,245 yards rushing.

Corum is aware of the stigma facing players at his position.

“My thoughts are that it (stinks), but it’s up to us to change that narrative,” he said at the NFL Combine. “We have to go out there and continue to ball. We have to be those game-changers, breaking those long ones, just help the team win in any and every aspect we can.”