[Who Dey]

The average career of a running back in the NFL is somewhere around three to four years. Now obviously that number is skewed by vast majority that never impact the league. However, if you were to look at every back in the league over the past 10 years that had the majority of carries for his team in any 1 season you would find that between those players career's, they only average between four and five years.
There is no doubt that Sean Alexander is a great player, and major contributor to the Seahawk's NFC championship, but is he really worth the investment of 6 years of cap space? Probably not, and I'll tell you why. Because there will be another Sean Alexaner right around the cornner. Tommlinson, Holmes, Lewis, Martin, Dillon, Cadillac Williams, Ricky Willimas, Larry Johnson, Rudi Johnson, Parker, Anderson, Bell, Dunn, are all backs capable of gaining 100 yards in a game. In this market a running back is not of great value, not because of thier lack of importance of an offense, but more so because they can be replaced rather easily.
Over the last 10 years no team in the NFL has had a more consistently productive ground game than the Denver Broncos. And I assure you not one of thier backs over this time period ever recieved the kind of money Shaun Alexander just signed for. Not ever Terell Davis, who actually did rush for over 2,000 yards in a single regular season. Hindsight proves denver right, because immediatley following Davis's record breaking season, his career was ended by a devestating injury.
In the long run, Indianapolis will be proven right for allowing Edgerin James walk, and Seattle will run into serious cap problems down the road for this signing. Especially when they go to extend Walter Jones's contract, it's likely his career would span 3 to 4 Shaun Alexander careers.

[BigBadBuc]

Who Dey,

I am right with you man. Running backs are one of the easier positions to replace. The offensive line is what takes most of the time to build. Denver is a perfect example. I've seen it in Pittsburgh with Duce, Jerome, Parker etc.

BBB