Roland Fryer

I started playing football at age five. The coach asked me to race their fastest player. And I won. And he said, you're on the team. In Texas, you play flag football five and six years old. And seven years old onwards, you strap on the pads and go to work. The coolest thing about playing was that they had a legitimate draft. You'd run a 40-yard dash. You'd kick the ball. You'd throw the ball.

You'd catch some balls. They had a little shed there at the fields. They'd put all your measurements up and then the coaches would select by lottery who went first. So we cared about where we were drafted as early as like eight or nine years old. And how did you do in the draft? Oh, man, I was always a number one draft pick.

You'd catch some balls. They had a little shed there at the fields. They'd put all your measurements up and then the coaches would select by lottery who went first. So we cared about where we were drafted as early as like eight or nine years old. And how did you do in the draft? Oh, man, I was always a number one draft pick.

You'd catch some balls. They had a little shed there at the fields. They'd put all your measurements up and then the coaches would select by lottery who went first. So we cared about where we were drafted as early as like eight or nine years old. And how did you do in the draft? Oh, man, I was always a number one draft pick.

Of course, because it was Texas Pop Warner football. My coaches early on told me my real talent was what they called running to the light, that you would just figure out where the gaps were and go, and it was all intuition. You'd score five, six touchdowns a game. I loved it. I absolutely loved playing football, and running backs were revered back then.

Of course, because it was Texas Pop Warner football. My coaches early on told me my real talent was what they called running to the light, that you would just figure out where the gaps were and go, and it was all intuition. You'd score five, six touchdowns a game. I loved it. I absolutely loved playing football, and running backs were revered back then.

Of course, because it was Texas Pop Warner football. My coaches early on told me my real talent was what they called running to the light, that you would just figure out where the gaps were and go, and it was all intuition. You'd score five, six touchdowns a game. I loved it. I absolutely loved playing football, and running backs were revered back then.

Every part of football is physical, right? But when you're running the ball, it's not just the person in front of you that you're going into. People are coming from the side and taking hits at knees. You can get rolled up on. There's a lot of bodies there.

Every part of football is physical, right? But when you're running the ball, it's not just the person in front of you that you're going into. People are coming from the side and taking hits at knees. You can get rolled up on. There's a lot of bodies there.

Every part of football is physical, right? But when you're running the ball, it's not just the person in front of you that you're going into. People are coming from the side and taking hits at knees. You can get rolled up on. There's a lot of bodies there.

Years, because it's been a slow decline of running backs. And it's my favorite position. I thought, why are my boys being paid less when these quarterbacks who aren't nearly as tough as running backs are being paid more? I grew up in the era of Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmett Smith. I've always liked these really, really explosive running backs just because they look like pure athletes.

Years, because it's been a slow decline of running backs. And it's my favorite position. I thought, why are my boys being paid less when these quarterbacks who aren't nearly as tough as running backs are being paid more? I grew up in the era of Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmett Smith. I've always liked these really, really explosive running backs just because they look like pure athletes.

Years, because it's been a slow decline of running backs. And it's my favorite position. I thought, why are my boys being paid less when these quarterbacks who aren't nearly as tough as running backs are being paid more? I grew up in the era of Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmett Smith. I've always liked these really, really explosive running backs just because they look like pure athletes.

So the non-economist in me wanted them to be paid more. The economist in me understands that marginal value is what matters, and that's what's happening. So Fryer put his research skills to work. The first thing to do was to walk through and just verify those basic statistics, right? Look at the salaries as a share of total spend of running backs relative to quarterbacks.

So the non-economist in me wanted them to be paid more. The economist in me understands that marginal value is what matters, and that's what's happening. So Fryer put his research skills to work. The first thing to do was to walk through and just verify those basic statistics, right? Look at the salaries as a share of total spend of running backs relative to quarterbacks.

So the non-economist in me wanted them to be paid more. The economist in me understands that marginal value is what matters, and that's what's happening. So Fryer put his research skills to work. The first thing to do was to walk through and just verify those basic statistics, right? Look at the salaries as a share of total spend of running backs relative to quarterbacks.

And of course, that's what you find out. You can verify the intuition very quickly that the proportion of spend for running backs has gone down over time and quarterbacks much higher. And not just quarterbacks much higher, everybody else on the offensive team. Everybody, right? And so the running backs...

And of course, that's what you find out. You can verify the intuition very quickly that the proportion of spend for running backs has gone down over time and quarterbacks much higher. And not just quarterbacks much higher, everybody else on the offensive team. Everybody, right? And so the running backs...

And of course, that's what you find out. You can verify the intuition very quickly that the proportion of spend for running backs has gone down over time and quarterbacks much higher. And not just quarterbacks much higher, everybody else on the offensive team. Everybody, right? And so the running backs...

So the first thing I did was test a bunch of supply side theories. We went and collected all the data we could on passing yards, running yards over the years by team, et cetera. But also we needed to understand the characteristics of the players.