They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near the bottom, and their careers are shorter than ever. We speak with an analytics guru, an agent, some former running backs (including LeSean McCoy), and the economist Roland Fryer (a former Pop Warner running back himself) to understand why. SOURCES:Brian Burke, sports data scientist at ESPNRoland Fryer, professor of economics at Harvard UniversityLeSean McCoy, former running back in the N.F.L. and co-host for Fox's daily studio show, "The Facility"Robert Smith, former running back for the Minnesota Vikings and N.F.L. analystRobert Turbin, former running back, N.F.L. analyst for CBS Sports HQ, and college football announcerJeffery Whitney, founder and president at The Sports & Entertainment Group RESOURCES:"The Economics of Running Backs," by Roland Fryer (Wall Street Journal, 2024)"Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper," by Stephen Dubner (2007)"The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider’s View on the World of Sports and Celebrity," by Robert Smith (2004) EXTRAS:"Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America," by Freakonomics Radio (2022)"Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022)
Full Episode
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. Before today's show, two quick things. Number one, on February 13th, we are putting on a live Freakonomics radio show in Los Angeles. Come see us. As of this recording, there are some tickets left, but not many. So don't dawdle. Go to Freakonomics.com slash live shows, one word, to get tickets.
And number two, we need your voice for an episode that we are in the middle of producing. It's about sludge, not the physical sludge that gunks up machinery and things like that. I am talking about the administrative and bureaucratic sludge that can make it hard to do simple things like cancel a subscription or pick the best health care coverage or sign up for some government service.
If you have a good sludge story or example, we want to hear it. Use your phone to record a short voice memo and send it to radio at Freakonomics.com. Please include your name, where you live, what you do, and tell us what's your sludge story. How did you respond to this sludge? And do you think it was accidental sludge or intentional? Make sure you record your voice memo in a quiet place.
And again, send it to radio at freakonomics.com. Thanks muchly. And now here is today's episode. The National Football League, a phenomenally successful piece of the sports and entertainment industry, is largely built around the forward pass.
That's when the quarterback, the star of the show, throws the ball downfield to one of his sprinting receivers who tries to catch the ball and sprint even further down the field. This can be a very exciting thing to watch. In recent years, the passing game has gotten even more exciting and more sophisticated, and it has helped drive the league's massive growth.
But if you ask football fans of a certain age who they idolized when they were kids, it probably wasn't a wide receiver or even a quarterback. It was probably a running back.
Big opening for Tony Dorsett. Look out, he's got great speed. Tony Dorsett was my favorite player. I had the uniform, the helmet. The running backs were bigger stars during my childhood than the quarterbacks.
My favorite player of all time was Barry Sanders. The day that he retired, I remember crying.
I had a Ricky Waters jersey when he was with the Eagles, actually. I wore it on the first day of school, I think of first or second grade.
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