Depreciating value of NFL running back contracts dismays Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas

Thurman Thomas’ voice rose with a bubbling intensity, expressing dismay over how the running back position has depreciated in value in today’s NFL.

It’s bad enough for the Hall of Famer to see how disposable the game’s top running backs have become, with Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry all changing teams within the past three years.

And don’t get Thomas started on salaries. In 1993, he signed a four-year, $13.5 contract extension that made him and edge rusher Bruce Smith the Buffalo Bills’ highest-paid players in annual pay, making $275,000 per year more than quarterback Jim Kelly.

Rather than rewarding running backs for production once their rookie contracts expire, as happens at almost every other position, the NFL’s 1991 MVP complained teams are instead letting them go and moving on to the next younger and cheaper player.

"You still deserve a contract. The first team has put you through hell and yet, I’m still ready to go. Haven't had any injuries. Now give me my damn money,” Thomas told The Associated Press.

With so much turnover, it's the reason why only three running backs — Barkley, McCaffrey and Henry — are averaging $15 million or more in pay this season, as compared to 26 receivers, per Spotrac.com.

“It's not even receiver money,” Thomas said, before breaking into a laugh. “It’s like we’re hanging with the punters and the kickers.”

Things haven’t sunk that low, but Thomas isn’t far off given how running backs are getting a substantially smaller piece of the payroll pie at a time when the league’s salary cap has jumped by $81 million since 2020.

It’s reflected this year in the NFL’s franchise tag numbers, based on the average top five salaries at each position.

The non-exclusive tag of just over $12 million for running backs ranked 10th out of 11 positions, with kickers/punters bringing up the end at about $6.5 million. In 2011, the running back tag was $9.6 million, ranking eighth, ahead of safeties, tight ends and kickers/punters.

“It truly is a passing league, and I think people want to embrace that,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane told The AP.

“You got to have a quarterback, so it starts there. And then you got to start with protecting him. And then we want to get after the other one,” he added. “It comes down to where do you want to put your money?”

It’s a question Beane faced this offseason in resolving a contract standoff with running back James Cook, who balked at practicing for a week before signing a four-year, $46 million contract extension.

The 25-year-old Cook didn’t get the $15 million per year deal he initially proposed on social media following a season he co-led the NFL with 16 touchdowns rushing. But his new contract’s total value ranks second among running backs, and seventh overall in being due $10.35 million this season.

Though happy with the deal, Cook still believes the position remains undervalued.

“We get banged up a lot and work through a lot of stuff, so we’re always going to get the short end of the stick,” Cook told The AP a week after signing his new deal. “But we tend to work through it, and we’re going to keep pushing through it and get better.”

In a bid to increase salaries, Cook was part of a text chain with fellow NFL running backs that included Barkley and Henry.

“We came together because they shortchanged us,” Cook said in July, noting Barkley and Henry raised the bar by signing contract extensions this offseason. “What they did, it helped us. And we’re going to keep pushing to get what we deserve.”

The 31-year-old Henry signed a two-year, $30 million extension, making him the NFL’s highest-paid running back who is 30 or older.

Barkley signed a two-year, $41.2 million extension in becoming the NFL’s first running back to average more than $20 million per season, which only places him 95th on this year’s list.

Barkley expressed hope his contract would set a trend for fellow running backs, specifically referencing Cook, Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson and Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs.

“I hope they beat it. That’s how I look at it,” Barkley said in March. “It’s about building the position up. ... It’s happening at every other position. I think it should happen for our position, too.”

This year’s draft provided a glimmer of hope for the position with Ashton Jeanty (chosen No. 6 by Las Vegas) and Omarion Hampton (22nd by the Chargers) selected in the first round, and four taken among the top 50. It doubled the average of two running backs being selected among the top 50 over the previous six drafts.

More teams, however, are using a committee approach to running backs, rotating in two and even three players depending on the situation, in further depleting the position’s value because they're getting fewer touches.

Last season, six players topped 300 carries, led by Barkley’s 345. In 2006, 10 players topped 300 carries, including Larry Johnson’s single-season NFL-record 416, despite teams playing one fewer regular-season game.

“I think you can always make an argument about touches and usage, especially when it comes to contracts,” Lions GM Brad Holmes said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about what you do with those touches more. ... I think you’ve got to look at it as case by case.”

Giants running back Devin Singletary said the hole Barkley left in New York’s offense coupled by his league-leading production in helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl raised the level of respect for running backs.

“You kind of already have a chip on your shoulder,” Singletary said. “I think we all as a collective want to show everybody, hey, we’re important, too. The competitor in you definitely would want to show the world that, all right, we still need running backs.”

One step at a time, perhaps.

AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow and AP Sports Writers Larry Lage and Stephen Whyno contributed.

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FILE - Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (4) warms up before an NFL preseason football game against the New York Giants in Orchard Park, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)

FILE - Former Buffalo Bills running back Thurman Thomas (34) waves during the halftime show at the NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sept. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/ Dean Duprey, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.

Four apartment buildings were damaged in the bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. Power company DTEK said two of its energy facilities suffered significant damage. The company said that 10 substations that distribute electricity in the Odesa region were damaged in December alone.

Russia has this year escalated its long-range attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. In recent months, as Russia’s invasion of its neighbor approaches its four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified its targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.

From January to November this year, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier this month. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.

Russia’s sustained drone and missile attacks have taken place against backdrop of renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and announced that a settlement is “closer than ever before." The Ukrainian leader is due to hold talks next week with the heads of European governments supporting his efforts to secure acceptable terms.

The ongoing attacks, meantime, are inflaming tensions.

The overnight Odesa strikes “are further evidence of the enemy’s terror tactics, which deliberately target civilian infrastructure,” Kiper, the regional head, said.

Moscow has alleged that Ukraine attempted to attack Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia with 91 long-range drones late Sunday and early Monday. Ukrainian officials deny the claim and say it’s a ruse to derail progress in the peace negotiations.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force claimed Wednesday that the drones took off from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions.

At a briefing where no questions were allowed, he presented a map showing the drone flight routes before they were downed by Russian air defenses over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, on Wednesday called the Russian allegations “a deliberate distraction” from the peace talks.

“No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians since the start of the war,” Kallas posted on X.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Romania and Croatia are the latest countries to join a fund that buys weapons for Ukraine from the United States. The financial arrangement, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment.

Since it was established in August, 24 countries are now contributing to the fund, according to Zelenskyy. The fund has so far received $4.3 billion, with almost $1.5 billion coming in December alone, he said on social media.

Ukraine’s air force said Wednesday that Russia fired 127 drones at the country during the night, with 101 of them intercepted by air defenses.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.

The Ukrainian attack started a fire at an oil refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, but it was quickly put out, local authorities said.

This story has corrected the day of the alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian president’s residence to late Sunday and early Monday.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, a Russian Army soldier fires from D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)