The Philadelphia Eagles just swindled the Baltimore Ravens into extending an aging Derrick Henry without doing a single thing. Well, I guess the one thing they did was give Saquon Barkley all that money, justifiably. Henry on the other hand, while he had a standout season in Baltimore, probably isn’t worth $15 million over the next two seasons.
After all, he played for half of that this past season. Kudos to Henry for finessing $30 million from the Ravens, though. He has Barkley to thank for that. Barkley warranted the two-year $41 million extension after his historic season. Henry, well, the Ravens are taking a gamble.
This is a copycat league, so I’m sure the Ravens felt like they didn’t want to be like the Tennessee Titans and give up on Henry while he still has some tread on his tires. The Ravens are taking a risk in paying Henry and that’s a direct cause of the Eagles investing in Barkley.
Eagles’ chess move with Saquon Barkley has ripple effect
Barkley has brought popularity back to the running back position. With it, the rest of the NFL may be forced to do exactly what the Baltimore Ravens did in overspending on a hope. The Ravens paid Henry like he’s not 30 years old and in the twilight years of his career.
That could be a trend that teams will have to start taking note of if the running back demand increases. Think back to when wide receivers became a popular first-round pick, that wasn’t always the case.
But as receivers started to take off on their teams, NFL franchises took note and started drafting them higher in the draft. That could be the same thing the Eagles investing in Barkley could do is force teams to start overpaying to keep their running backs.
The Ravens have become the first victim; who will be next? There’s a stark difference between overspending and investing. When it comes to running backs like Henry, you’re probably overspending. But Barkley has proved the Eagles aren’t who they are without him.
Philadelphia has figured out the perfect recipe to running an NFL franchise. They invest in the draft, they rework contracts in backend money to get as many players as they can while they're young and productive. And they know when to invest in their best players and when to let them go.