Jonathan Taylor and Derrick Henry weren’t shy about voicing their displeasure after fellow running backs Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard were unable to reach multi-year contracts ahead of the deadline for franchise-tagged players.

Barkley, Jacobs and Pollard are in line to play under the $10.091 million tag this season, provided the first two sign the tender.

While Barkley tweeted “It is what it is” on Monday, Taylor had a much longer response in regard to the situation surrounding the New York Giants running back.

“1. If you’re good enough, they’ll find you. 2. If you work hard enough, you’ll succeed,” the Colts running back wrote on Twitter. “…If you succeed … 3. You boost the Organization …and then… Doesn’t matter, you’re a RB.”

Henry, a two-time rushing champion for the Tennessee Titans, took an even strong stance.

“At this point, just take the RB position out the game then,” he tweeted. “The ones that want to be great & work as hard as they can to give their all to an organization, just seems like it don’t even matter. I’m with every RB that’s fighting to get what they deserve.”

San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey, who is the NFL’s highest-paid running back at $16 million per season, labeled the situation as “criminal.”

Pittsburgh Steelers standout Najee Harris said in part that the “notion that we deserve less is a joke.”

Barkley, 26, was the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft after a dynamic career at Penn State. He posted a career-high 1,312 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in 16 games (all starts) last season while playing on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal.

The Giants’ current regime of general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll did not draft Barkley, but he appeared to be part of their long-term plans. Reports indicated that the sides were negotiating a long-term deal up until the deadline.

The Las Vegas Raiders did not pick up the fifth-year option on Jacobs’ rookie contract a year ago.

Jacobs, 25, responded by putting up 1,653 rushing yards on 340 touches (4.9 per attempt) and 12 touchdowns while starting all 17 games. He added 400 receiving yards in order to lead the league with 2,053 total yards from scrimmage. He was a first-team All-Pro and received his second Pro Bowl nod.

The Dallas Cowboys’ running game will go through Pollard, who is taking over RB1 from the released Ezekiel Elliott. Pollard took part in offseason activities as he recovered from ankle surgery, and he is expected to be ready to go when training camp opens July 26.

Pollard, 26, was selected to his first Pro Bowl after last season, in which he ran for a career-high 1,007 yards. He added 39 receptions for 371 yards, and he scored a combined 12 touchdowns in 16 games (four starts).

–Field Level Media

Free-agent acquisition JuJu Smith-Schuster is fully recovered from a knee injury and ready to go for the opening of training camp with the New England Patriots next week.

Smith-Schuster told the Boston Globe on Monday that he will be a full participant when camp kicks off July 26. Smith-Schuster missed the team’s entire offseason program after sustaining a knee injury in the postseason with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Smith-Schuster signed a three-year contract worth $33 million with the Patriots in March.

Smith-Schuster, 26, caught 78 passes for 933 yards and three touchdowns for the Chiefs in 2022, his only season in Kansas City.

He reportedly sustained his knee in the AFC Championship Game but played through it, racking up 10 catches for 89 yards in the Chiefs’ postseason run, culminating with a Super Bowl victory.

Smith-Schuster, a former second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has 401 career receptions for 4,788 yards and 29 TDs.

–Field Level Media

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel on Tuesday defended his team’s reported signing of DeAndre Hopkins after the club failed in its previous attempt to bring in a veteran high-profile wide receiver.

The Titans’ previously attempted to bolster their wide receiver room in 2021 with the signing of star Julio Jones. The seven-time Pro Bowl selection, however, finished with just 31 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown in 10 games during his lone season with Tennessee.

On Sunday, multiple media outlets reported Hopkins will sign with the Titans on a two-year, $26 million contract worth up to $32 million with incentives. He reportedly will receive a base salary of $12 million in the first season with a chance to increase to $15 million.

“I don’t think whatever happened in the past with another player is going to apply to this particular player,” Vrabel said on Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “If things come up, we’ll have to work through them. We wouldn’t have signed him or wanted to sign him if we weren’t confident he’d help us.”

Hopkins, 31, and Vrabel were together with the Houston Texans when the latter was their linebackers coach (2014-16) and defensive coordinator (2017). Hopkins met with the team in Nashville last month.

The Arizona Cardinals released Hopkins on May 26 after they reportedly failed to find a trade partner.

A three-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl selection, Hopkins has 853 catches for 11,298 yards and 71 touchdowns in 145 games (all starts) with the Texans (2013-19) and Cardinals.

Hopkins had 64 catches for 717 yards with three touchdowns during a 2022 season in which he missed the first six games while serving a suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. He sat out the final two games with a knee injury.

Since trading A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles ahead of the 2022 season, the Titans have been looking for a new WR1. Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Kyle Philips are the current projected starters.

This is the first major splash for new Titans general manager Ran Carthon, who was hired in January to replace Jon Robinson.

–Field Level Media

Three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson clarified a post on social media that many interpreted as a retirement announcement.

Jackson, 36, initially caused a stir on Sunday morning with the following post on Instagram:

“Did it my way 15 years strong!! Neva anotha like it! #0ne0fone”

Two days later, Jackson took to social media in a bid to clear the air.

“They reaching my last post wasn’t a retirement post! I just had to get some stuff off my chest! Y’all will know when the Boi retire!” he wrote on Instagram.

Jackson, who is an unrestricted free agent, had nine catches for 153 yards in seven games (one start) last season with the Baltimore Ravens.

He has 641 receptions for 11,263 yards and 58 touchdowns in 183 games (159 starts) with the Philadelphia Eagles (2008-13, 2019-20), Washington franchise (2014-16), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2017-18), Los Angeles Rams (2021), Las Vegas Raiders (2021) and Ravens (2022).

A second-round pick by the Eagles in 2008, Jackson led the NFL in yards per reception in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018.

–Field Level Media