The Baltimore Ravens running back situation is both awesome and affordable.
With all the drama going on with Alvin Kamara and the New Orleans Saints, the Baltimore Ravens model at the running back spot looks better than ever. There is a school of thought that you don’t pay running backs. They wear out quickly and they don’t always live up to big second contracts. There are tons of cautionary tales here, including what the Los Angeles Rams just went through with Todd Gurley. Now, Gurley is with the Atlanta Falcons and the Rams have to eat some dead money.
It’s not quite as simplistic as never paying running backs. Solid running backs aren’t rare and if that’s all you need to get by they are not that hard to find. The Ravens however did go through Justin Forsett, Terrence West, Javorious Allen, Ty Montgomery and Alex Collins though so it’s not like every team gets a good enough running back every season. If you play fantasy football you understand that there is a drop off after the top handful of backs in the league.
Running backs do have a ton of value, especially the stars. The trick with running backs from a team building perspective is knowing that all running backs are temporary. The trick is finding a group of running backs at a decent collective price point that you can get a lot out of. It’s a position to keep loading up on because shuffling talent is the only sustainable answer.
The Ravens are paying most of their running back budget to Mark Ingram. It’s worked out well so far considering that Ingram was a dynamic play-maker who had just over 1,000 yards last year. Ingram isn’t breaking the bank though. According to Spotrac.com he got a four year $15 million dollar deal. This past season his cap hit was a bit over three million dollars. His cap hit never gets all that out of hand in the four years and the Ravens can realistically part with him after this season, if they so choose.