That is what the Rams signed up for this time last year.
And now....
The point?
RB is the most wasteful position to invest heavily in. Period.
The Rams are 1 year into a new deal for Gurley and in their heart of hearts they're counting down the days until 2022 when they can get out from under the it.
Investing in players is reflective of drafting. Ideally, you'd love to continually draft players who can be ready to step into the starter's shoes so you don't have to pay what it takes to retain the starter when he reaches free agency. For example, ideally Pollard would show that we don't need to invest in Elliott. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way. The draft is hit and miss, so you weigh your options. If you want to field a competitive team, you don't downgrade the talent just because of injury risk, etc. You try to put the best team you can out there while minding how you spread your cap dollar, what you value most, etc.
I think it's silly to make a blanket statement that RB is the most wasteful position to invest heavily in, because there are lots of factors that can affect that, most dealing with the running back you have compared to what you have to replace him with. There comes a point where the investment is not worth the return (see DeMarco Murray), but it can sometimes be difficult to determine when you've reached that point, especially if your efforts to find a suitable replacement have failed, which statistically is a pretty good possibility.
This is from
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015...e-statistics-tell-us-about-the-draft-by-round in 2015:
Running Backs
The position has been devalued over the years but the statistics still show that it is better to draft early if you are looking for a starter.
- Of the 207 players drafted 33 have become starters for half their careers. This gives an indication that there is a lot of Running Back By Committee (RBBC).
- There is a very high bust rate for RBs. The first round gives you a 58% chance of finding a starter followed by 25% in the second, 16% in the third, 11% in the fourth, 9% in the fifth, 6% in the sixth and 0% in the 7th.
- If you rank the rounds by the total RBs drafted you find that the greatest number are drafted in the 7th, followed by the 4th, 6th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, and 5th.
If you want a stud RB, they are likely to come from the first round. If you are looking for depth, the fourth round seems to be the place to go. This year Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon have the first round grades based on statistics it seems likely that one of the two will be a bust. However, this could be like 2007 when AP and Beastmode went in the first round. For the Chiefs, since 2007 they have taken a RB every draft except 2010. Both Charles and Davis were the highest drafted both coming in the 3rd round.
