Stephen Dubner

And it's usually the Jets, to be honest.

He found that one for sure.

Bell's agent at the time was Jeffrey Whitney, who we heard from earlier.

He told us he didn't want to discuss the Bell situation.

Beyond a holdout, what other options are available to dissatisfied running backs?

A few years ago, there was an attempt at creating a carve-out, a running back-specific labor designation proposed by a group called the International Brotherhood of Professional Running Backs.

They petitioned the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board, for what labor lawyers call a unit clarification.

They argued that the unique physical demands of the running back position were

set them apart from other football players and that they should therefore be allowed to break away from the NFL Players Union and negotiate on their own.

A clever idea, maybe, but the NLRB rejected their request.

I asked Robert Smith, the former Vikings running back, what he thought of this idea.

So if carve outs and holdouts aren't the answer, how about a good old fashioned running back Zoom call?

In 2023, Austin Eckler, now with the Washington Commanders, organized a Zoom with other top running backs, including Barkley, Jacobs, Christian McCaffrey and Nick Chubb, to discuss the state of their position.

Right now, there's really nothing we can do, Chubb said afterward.

We're kind of handcuffed with the situation.

We are the only position that our production hurts us.

If we go out there and run 2000 yards the next year, they're going to say you're probably worn down.

But last year, the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl thanks to the huge contributions of running back Saquon Barkley.

So will that lead the NFL to fall back in love with the running back?

Let's say you have a relative or a family friend who's 11, 12 years old, great athlete.