We’ve finally reached the second most popular sports season in Baltimore. That’s right. There’s football season and then there’s … football offseason.
You know the background here. ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler reported earlier this month that his information-gathering from around the league led him to believe the Ravens will be in the market for a running back “of pedigree” this offseason. (He confirmed in an interview on Glenn Clark Radio last week that they have done legwork on the top backs in free agency, including Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley.)
Since then, there has been some fixation on Henry in particular. DraftKings made the Ravens the betting favorite to land the “King,” who once tormented them in a January 2020 playoff game.
And I really want to be on board with the idea. But … it’s kinda complicated.
I’m actually the type of person who laments what has happened to running backs in the NFL. These truly gifted, talented athletes have been diminished to the point of near-certain extinction in my lifetime. I truly believe that the Deebo Samuel route will become the future of the position in the next few decades. There will be no more running backs, merely skill position players who sometimes line up in the backfield and take handoffs.
Perhaps ending specialization will ultimately be best for the sport. We use the term “positionless” more and more frequently throughout sports in general, and we never seem to say it in a derogatory way. Asking offensive skill players to sometimes to catch the ball and other times run the ball will probably be as successful as, say, asking Kyle Hamilton to play literally every position defensively, considering he is plenty capable of doing so.
But we’re not there … yet. For now, we still call certain players running backs. And in the NFL, we have little interest in them. I don’t care for that. Call me old school. I was an obsessed Jamal Lewis fan. We can talk about the atmospheres in the postseason all we want, but the most electric day in M&T Bank Stadium history was when Lewis ran for nearly 300 yards against the Browns in 2003.
Running backs were the drumbeat of the time I spent falling in love with the sport in my youth and early adulthood. The Ravens’ early years were based not only on the driving force that was Lewis but also iconic battles with Eddie George, Corey Dillon, Fred Taylor and Jerome Bettis. Getting the chance to see Barry Sanders play in Baltimore (little did we know it was his final game) in 1998 was not dissimilar to the first time I got to see Stevie Wonder perform live.
I freaking love running backs. I hate how the league has seemingly colluded against the position. It strangely hurts me. But I also can’t pretend like I feel like the Ravens should be spending real money at the position in the year 2024. Particularly not given all of the other constraints they’re facing economically.
It’s not so much that I’m opposed to the idea of Henry or Barkley. (I also happen to love Josh Jacobs AND just so happen to know that he’d truly love to be a Baltimore Raven.) I’m not. It’s just that my gut tells me that the Ravens are better suited spending the money in … any other way.
They need edge rushers. Badly. They struck gold with Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy this past season but are right back in the same bind this year. They need to keep Justin Madubuike, and that might require a $22 million franchise tag. They need at least a right guard on their offensive line and perhaps more than that. They probably still need one more wide receiver. And we still don’t know who else they might part ways with, although last week’s salary cap boost might limit the damage.
Other issues require necessary fixes. Running back remains a luxury.
If Keaton Mitchell hadn’t gotten hurt in December, we might be in a place where we’d be excited about the possibility of him being a featured back going into the season. I still think he has a chance to be if he comes back from the torn ACL without lingering issues. Justice Hill will also be in the mix.
If J.K. Dobbins (who presumably will have a very thin market given his injury history and the depleted value of running backs in general) is interested in returning on a small-money, “prove-it” type of deal, I’m not opposed. Same for Dalvin Cook, albeit the circumstances are quite different. And while the “deadline” passed and Gus Edwards will be a free agent, I’d still be interested in a reunion there if the market isn’t to his liking. And since we’re talking about running backs, I can’t assume it won’t be.
I just can’t fathom watching the Ravens in the AFC championship game and thinking, “What they really need is an upgrade at running back.” The personnel was fine. The usage was the problem. You might think that spending money on a back will demand a certain amount of usage but I assure you that you don’t really want that, either. You’re just still bitter about a football game. We all are.
To be clear, this is prime subterfuge season. The Ravens aren’t actually telling anyone (Jeremy Fowler included) what their actual plans are. I don’t doubt his reporting, which came with the caveat that the Ravens would balk if prices went up into the eight-figure-per-year territory for these backs. I just know that lots of information is pushed around during this time of the year that doesn’t always come to fruition.
I’m also not suggesting that it would be disastrous for the Ravens to make such an addition. If they can address their other needs and do the arithmetic necessary to have the money to add a significant back, it’ll never be a bad thing to have more good players.
I just don’t know that they can, and it feels like budgeting a team during a big quarterback contract era probably requires spending less at the running back position.
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