Titans star Derrick Henry weighs in on RBs' place in NFL

Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry has been leading the charge this offseason to help running backs get the appreciation and money they deserve from the NFL and its owners.

He also does not really like the conflicting messages the league seems to be sending with the position. 

NFL teams have devalued the position to the point where the best players cannot get long-term deals in the prime of their careers. This is happening despite the fact running backs tend to be some of the most heavily marketed and featured stars players in the league. 

“Have you all witnessed it? I’m pretty sure you all have,” Henry said this week, via the Associated Press. “So yes, just trying to show that we are valuable as any other position. They use us in commercials and all over the place. And we just want our share due.”

He's not wrong, and it's not difficult to understand the frustration he and other top running backs are feeling going into the season. 

It is easy to make running backs marketable because they handle the ball more than almost any other position on the field outside of quarterback, while they also tend to be the most productive and popular players on their teams. 

Players like Henry, Saquon Barkley (New York Giants), Jonathan Taylor (Indianapolis Colts) and Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas Raiders) are the focal points of their teams' offenses and do most of the heavy lifting. 

Despite that, Barkley, Taylor and Jacobs were unable to land long-term contracts this offseason.

The Taylor situation in Indianapolis also creates an interesting scenario that is somewhat related to Henry's point about how the players are marketed. 

Indianapolis doesn't value Taylor enough to pay him on a long-term contract, but when it came time to offer him around the league in potential trade talks, it set a sky-high and almost unrealistic demand from other teams. 

The Colts know how good he is. They also know how valuable is, and if they could capitalize on that value to better their franchise in a trade they were prepared to milk it for all they could. They just do not share that energy when it comes to his paycheck or a long-term commitment. 

It's the same thing on a larger scale around the league.

The unfortunate reality, however, is that despite the star power and workload running backs take on, the 32 teams still have no incentive to pay the position more money as a whole. 

The workload that makes running backs stars is also what leads to their rapid decline as players. 

There are also so many good players at the position, while the position itself is largely dependent on the talent around it, that teams feel they can get similar production with lesser-known players for significantly smaller prices. In a salary cap league where dollars are limited (and other positions are viewed as more valuable), any sort of savings that a team can get is very important. 

It is a fight that is not going to go away anytime soon, no matter how much players like Henry, Taylor and Barkley might hate it.