Return of the Back: The RB Revitalisation

Though avid football fans of the late 1990s and early 2000s would have been forgiven for thinking the running back would one day become more important than a team’s quarterback, it’s safe to say the game has changed a lot since then.

Teams were once reliant on monstrous backfield production to compliment serviceable quarterback play, but the narrative changed heavily throughout the 2010s and early ‘20s, leading the average running back salary to drop even lower than that of the average kicker league-wide. But is the script starting to flip back to what it once was?

Let’s start with the already-established superstars who might be performing better than ever.

Over the last 2 years, Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry found new homes to completely rejuvenate their careers. Barkley put up an MVP-calibre 2024 season with over 2,000 rushing yards (including playoff games) as he and the Philadelphia Eagles romped to a Super Bowl victory, with him proving to be the final piece for a team that had previously been close, but not close enough. Henry, on the other hand, has fallen short of the ultimate prize in his brief time with the Baltimore Ravens, but at age 30, had a career year in 2024 and will be the key to Baltimore’s hopes this year once again. Needless to say, teams weren’t accounting from All-Pro production from a 32-year-old to lead them to a Super Bowl a decade ago. Oh, and there’s Christian McCaffrey. Despite being hurt early in 2024, he bounced back with a very 2025 and shows no signs of slowing down if he can remain healthy.

In the unlikely case any of those 3 start to regress this season, there’s a couple of guys waiting in the wings to take their place as the faces of the league.

Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson both recently signed 3-year contract extensions, making them the 2 highest paid running backs of all time. In fact, Gibbs usurped Robinson by a total of $750,000 across the 3 years of their deals, which is somewhat symbolic of the rivalry the pair will have in contesting the league’s rushing crown for years to come. The pair exhibit traits reflective of a running back from the position’s golden age. Whilst Gibbs enters this season on a genuine Super Bowl contender in Detroit, Robinson is highly unlikely to have such luck in Atlanta, but their individual prospects remain similar. Game-breaking speed in the backfield combined with dual-threat abilities in the passing game, if there’s two players you keep an eye out for this season, make it these two.

And the future of the position looks in good hands too.

The Arizona Cardinals made Jeremiyah Love the highest drafted running back since 2018 when they took him 3^rd overall in this year’s draft. Ashton Jeanty (8^th overall, 2025) broke all kinds of FBS records during his time at Boise State and now teams up with Fernando Mendoza in Las Vegas. While it will be difficult for either to have a massive impact immediately and change the fortunes of teams who have struggled mightily for years, the entrustment of 2 such teams to select running backs with top 10 picks indicates the near future of the league will rely even more heavily on high-quality play out of the backfield.

So much is the elite calibre of the NFL’s current crop of running backs, it was hard to make room here for Kenneth Walker III, who recently posted 417 scrimmage yards and 4 touchdowns en route to becoming a Super Bowl MVP with Seattle. So highly regarded was his elite playoff performance, that he’s now been given the keys as Patrick Mahomes’ right-hand man to help restore the dynasty in Kansas City, signing for 3 years on over $43 million.

Unfortunately, the NFL’s highest individual award has been well and truly established as the prize for the league’s best quarterback each season, as we’re now 20 years removed from LaDainian Tomlinson’s 2006 MVP-winning campaign. Though the prestigious award isn’t on offer for running backs anymore, who’s to say we won’t see a running back produce 2,300+ scrimmage yards and 30+ touchdowns once again.

Having gone through a minor lull, with none being selected inside the top 20 picks of the 2019-2022 drafts, have we entered a rejuvenated golden era of running backs in the NFL?