Death of the Elite Running Back

Story on the demise of the elite running back in the NFL. Thoughts?


http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Adrian-Peterson-Arian-Foster-elite-running-backs-supplanted-by-Calvin-Johnson-elite-wide-receivers-011012

I agree that the elite running back is dying out and i'm not surprised.

Its partly because its "easier" to put up points through the air, both in terms of it stopping the clock more and the obvious factor that passes average longer than runs. The fans probably enjoy it more and I imagine a high scoring offence would put more bums on seats than ground an pound offences in the same city.
Defensive rules have hindered the DBs making it even easier and desirable to throw.
Featured backs take hits all the time and injuries are very common. Factor in the fact that there are plenty of capable backs in college each year who will "do the job" for a couple of years and most will just not bother paying someone the large amounts it takes to keep and Adrian Peterson, Arian Foster or CJ2K. I know there are plenty of WRs who will just "do the job" as well, but you require multiple receivers on every play and so the talent gets spread a bit thinner leading to the demand placed on someone like Megatron

the only truly elite rb in the nfl is A.D and I can only hope he can come back from his injury the same way Frank Gore and Wes Welker did