Getty Image / Frederick Breedon
Over the past few days, running back pay has become one of the hottest topics in the NFL.
Players around the league have been chiming in since Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley ended up without contract extensions.
Now a Cleveland Browns player has shared the most wild take on the situation yet.
During an appearance on the Ross Tucker podcast, Cleveland Browns lineman JC Tretter said the running backs need to create as much leverage as possible and hinted towards faking injuries as a potential way to get that leverage.
“You need to try to create as much leverage as you possibly can…”
Interesting response from NFLPA President @JCTretter when asked if players like Saquon Barkley should fake injuries for contract purposes: pic.twitter.com/mgBYNmUlJL
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) July 18, 2023
“You need to try to create as much leverage as you possibly can,” Tretter said. “And that’s the tough thing with the franchise tag, or being restricted in movement, is it decreases your leverage, but then you have to find creative ways to build leverage elsewhere. I think we’ve seen issues — now, I don’t think anybody would say they were fake injuries, but we’ve seen players who didn’t want to be where they currently are, have injuries that made them unable to practice and play, but you’re not able to get fined, and you’re not able to be punished for not reporting. So there are issues like that. I don’t think I’m allowed to ever recommend that, at least publicly, but I think each player needs to find a way to build up leverage to try to get a fair deal. And that’s really what all these guys are looking for, is to be compensated fairly.”
This seems like some pretty bad advice that would make teams around the league reluctant to sign these players next offseason.
Yes, they would get to keep collecting a paycheck while not actually playing football, but the goal for these players is to get a longer commitment from a team that pays them what they think they’re worth.
This wouldn’t accomplish that.
There may be some way for running backs to convince teams to give them better contracts (even though they really shouldn’t), but this isn’t it.