NFL groups need to keep away from taking mistaken classes from Saquon Barkley, Eagles
For the higher a part of the previous 10-15 years, no place within the NFL has been extra devalued than the operating again.
As groups took the strategy that they have been principally interchangeable gamers and a product of the system round them, the highest gamers on the place discovered it more durable to get large paydays. Groups additionally didn’t use premium draft picks on them, and the place went from being one of the prestigious within the league to one of the insignificant. It nearly turned an afterthought in team-building.
However the success of free-agent signings Saquon Barkley (Philadelphia Eagles) and Derrick Henry (Baltimore Ravens) this season would possibly begin to reverse that development as they confirmed how helpful a top-tier again can nonetheless be.
There’s a hazard with that, nonetheless, as groups would possibly begin taking the mistaken classes from the success of Barkley and Henry and their respective groups.
An important factor that must be saved in thoughts with these conditions is {that a} participant like Barkley was the ultimate piece of the puzzle for the Eagles.
He was not the beginning piece.
That is perhaps one thing that groups lose sight of as they put together to enter the offseason and begin constructing out their rosters.
For pretty much as good as Barkley has been for the Eagles by almost setting the single-season dashing file, and as a lot of a game-changer as he has been, he ended up falling into the precise good state of affairs that was going to permit him to shine. The Eagles weren’t solely already an excellent workforce (one which was within the Tremendous Bowl two years and gained 11 video games a yr in the past), that they had a number of key positions on offense secured with top-end gamers. That features an impressive offensive line, a wonderful quarterback and two No. 1 extensive receivers.
It was the right surroundings for a operating again to excel.
That’s not to say the Eagles would have been simply pretty much as good with any random operating again of their offense. Barkley is clearly a special tier of participant and probably the greatest gamers within the league. He has actually elevated the Eagles to a stage they might have by no means reached with out him.
However he was not going to do this for a workforce that was missing stars at all the different positions on offense. We all know that is true as a result of we noticed what Barkley seemed like because the centerpiece of a nasty workforce with the New York Giants. It didn’t produce outcomes on each a person or workforce stage.
That’s the downside with operating backs.
Even the easiest ones want the appropriate supporting solid round them to make that form of affect.
Gamers like Barkley are nonetheless worthy of the large payday and may nonetheless be game-changing gamers in the appropriate state of affairs.
If groups go into this offseason making an attempt to copy the magic of Barkley in Philadelphia by making an attempt to make use of a prime decide — or spending large in free company — once they haven’t got the appropriate workforce in place round that again, it is not going to supply the identical outcomes.
Your star operating again must be the ultimate piece of the puzzle that brings all of it collectively — not the piece that begins the puzzle.
