Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley are proof that spending for a free agent RB can still pay huge dividends

For years as the NFL became more and more of a pass-first league, the following sentiment arose: running backs don’t matter.

However, that’s not quite accurate if they’re treated as the cherry on top of an offense that has the rest of the pieces in order: solid play from the quarterback, offensive line and receiving corps. The Baltimore Ravens signed 30-year-old, four-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry to a two-year, $16 million deal, and the Philadelphia Eagles signed 27-year-old, two-time Pro Bowler Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million in free agency this offseason. 

Through the first half of the 2024 season, Henry and Barkley are dominating. Henry (116.9 rushing yards per game) and Barkley (115.6) rank first and second in the entire league in rushing yards per game as well as first and third, respectively, in rushing yards per game in a player’s first season with a new team, per CBS Sports Research. 

Most rush yards/game in first season with team, NFL history

Henry is currently poised to become the third player in NFL history to win three rushing triple crowns, leading the league in carries (168), rushing yards (1,052) and rushing touchdowns (11) this season. He would join Hall of Famers Steve Van Buren (three) and Jim Brown (four), but he would be the first to do so at age 30 or older. Henry one of the NFL’s most efficient runners too despite the NFL-high in volume: his 6.3 yards per carry this season are the second-most in the NFL behind only Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs‘ rushing yards-per-carry average. He is also the first player since then-Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander during his 2005 NFL MVP season

Barkley has been nearly as magical as Henry in his first season with Philadelphia. Hs possesses the fifth-most rushing yards, 925, in his first eight career games with a team all time. That production has him in line for 1,965 rushing yards, which would break LeSean McCoy’s single-season Eagles record of 1,607 set in 2013. Barkley is also averaging an NFL-leading 133.9 scrimmage yards per game after racking up 199 — 159 rushing on 27 carries and 40 receiving on three catches — in a 28-23 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9. Three of Barkley’s seven highest single-game rushing totals in his career have come in his first eight games with Philadelphia, and he is averaging 2.5 yards before contract per rush, the third-most in the league among running backs in 2024 That’s a massive departure from his 2023 yards-before-contact-per-rush average of 1 yard, which ranked 32nd among running backs last season. The reason why? Like Henry, he is the cherry on top of talented offensive core. 

“It’s his confidence, bro. Confidence in people are going to make the right blocks. He’s just playing his reads. He’s playing running back so peacefully,” Dallas Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons said of Barkley on Wednesday. “A lot of people doubted that he would have that success, but just like his rookie year [with Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018], you put the weapons outside of him, you can’t stack the box against him. Let’s be real. You’re playing the Giants, you’re putting eight in the box and saying, ‘beat me with your weapons that you got.’ Now that he got some help out here, it’s been a night and day difference. Same thing with [Christian] McCaffrey [when he joined the San Francisco 49ers]. You can’t stack that box. When those good backs get into those good systems, it’s always good to see people get back to where they were at.”   

Their production is also the rising tide for their respective quarterbacks’ level of play. While playing alongside the NFL’s leading rusher, reigning NFL MVP and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson leads the NFL in passing yards per attempt (9.3) and passer rating (120.7) while co-leading the league in touchdown to interception ratio (20 passing touchdowns to two interceptions) this season. Jackson’s 120.7 passer rating is the sixth-highest in NFL history through the first nine games of a season, minimum 200 passing attempts. Eagles two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts struggled with an NFL-most 27 turnovers from Week 1 of 2023 to Week 4 of 2024. Then, Philadelphia began its four-game winning streak in Week 6 after its Week 5 bye, which coincided with Barkley leading the league with 490 rushing yards in that span. Naturally, Hurts has erupted for 12 total touchdowns and no turnovers during the four-game winning streak, which is the longest stretch of his career without a turnover. 

There was a trend across the league at the beginning of the 2020s in which teams would trade for or sign top-flight wide receivers to boost the development of their quarterbacks. That path is common and definitely still has value, but acquiring a top-tier running back could have a similar effect and cost less in terms of assets, whether it’s draft picks or cap space, especially in a present day NFL where the two-high safety look is as present as oxygen.