The Falcons are repaying running Todd Gurley $5.5 million this season. The Falcons are likewise paying running Brian Hill $2.1 million this season. Yet, neither one of them is the team’s top running back.
That differentiation has a place with Ito Smith, who makes just $750,000.
Falcons coach Raheem Morris affirmed today that Smith is the lead back going ahead. That comes a day after Smith conveyed six times for 24 yards against the Buccaneers, while Gurley and Hill had a consolidated six carries for minus-3 yards.
Morris clarified that every one of the three running backs are adequately solid to play, and the choice is an outcome completely of performance. Smith will get the heft of the carries in light of the fact that Smith is the best running back in the group.
Also, that is a decent token of how regularly running backs who get paid demonstrate not to merit the cash. More than some other position, running backs discovered late in the draft, or on the waiver wire, can out-perform running backs who cost a ton of cash. The Falcons would have been savvy saving the compensation cap space they spent on Gurley and Hill, and spending it on somebody who could impede for Smith.
