Ten NFL running backs who are the engine for their team’s offense entering the 2023 season

Three of the six players who received the franchise tag from their respective teams this offseason were running backs -- the Giants' Saquon Barkley, the Raiders' Josh Jacobs and the Cowboys' Tony Pollard. While the three non-RBs all worked out long-term deals with their squads prior to the July 17 deadline for tagged players to sign a multi-year contract, the three RBs did not.

That means Barkley, Jacobs and Pollard can only play on the one-year tag tender in 2023. Despite the trio's individual and collective impact on the game, the Giants, Raiders and Cowboys elected to not make long-term commitments to their star runners.

The situation has sparked a lively conversation in recent days, with the debate centering on whether to pay top-of-the-market prices for a position that has become a lower priority in the team building process than it used to be in most corners of the league.

Part of the change in the narrative surrounding the position can be traced to the success Mike and Kyle Shanahan have enjoyed utilizing a "draft, plug and play" approach with later-round draft picks -- or in some cases undrafted free agents -- at running back. However, astute evaluators can spot the differences between a good back and a great back when studying the tape. Moreover, players know the difference between a pedestrian runner and a star player.

Terrell Davis -- a sixth-round pick of Mike Shanahan's Broncos back in 1995 -- shared his perspective on the differences between a Hall of Fame-caliber runner and a "system" player in the backfield on the Move The Sticks Podcast back in 2019.

"The system we had in Denver was phenomenal because it emphasized a very simple motto. And the motto was 'north and south.' And it was a four-yard run," Davis