Mark Ingram: Treatment of running backs in football today is ‘highly unfortunate’

Mark Ingram won a Heisman Trophy playing running back for the Alabama Crimson Tide. He says — and rather emphatically at that — his son will not follow in his footsteps.

The new FOX college football analyst said recently, per Yahoo Sports, that the state of the running back position in football is “highly unfortunate” with the way running backs are treated by teams.

Be it rule changes or the explosion of analytics-based thinking, offense drives the sport and passing drives the offense.

“You almost tell the kid to play a different position,” Ingram said. “If you’re a running back in high school, if you’re a running back in middle school — my son would not be playing running back. He would be backpedaling, he would be running routes, or he would be throwing the football because those are the positions that are getting paid. If he’s big enough, hopefully he’ll be pass-rushing d-end. It’s just highly unfortunate what’s happening to the running back.”

A former first-round pick and 3-time NFL Pro Bowler, Ingram is leaving the field this season to join FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff broadcast team. He spent 12 years in the NFL and put up 1,000-yard rushing seasons 3 times with 2 different clubs.

The NFL has been churning through running backs at a higher and higher rate of late. The wear and tear are obvious, teams are generally leery of spending early draft picks on the position, and Ingram is now watching stars like Saquon Barkley squabble with the New York Giants over his next contract.

Ingram is not a fan.

Mark Ingram (@markingramII) says the way the running back position is being treated has changed his outlook for the future ? pic.twitter.com/RYUgMd3LpK

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 24, 2023

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.