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Aidin's list of five NFL running backs who should retire before the start of the 2025 season. His analysis for players past the age apex who should hang it up in 2025.
These days, the NFL is more talented than ever. The quality of prospects is constantly improving, and even the most established stars could find themselves benched or replaced after a few slip-ups. Teams are always looking for the "next man up."
This is especially true for the running back position. Most NFL coaches and front offices have deemed the RB position to be replaceable, and it's not easy to keep your starting job as a running back with all the talent entering the league. Just look at the 2024 RB class, for example. There will be many talented backs who will make their debuts in the following months, and the old guard simply can't keep up anymore.
Without further ado, let's look at five RBs who should retire before the 2025 NFL season.
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Cordarrelle Patterson, Pittsburgh Steelers
One of the greatest return specialists in NFL history, many NFL fans have fond memories of Cordarrelle Patterson. It seemed like right as Devin Hester was slowing down, Patterson came in and took his place as the league's best returner.
Future Hall of Famer Cordarrelle Patterson https://t.co/nGVWTgECEh pic.twitter.com/2uXaP3S9cN
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) May 3, 2025
Despite not being an every-down player, Hester was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024, so Patterson has a good chance of becoming a Hall of Famer when he hangs up his cleats.
After winning a Super Bowl in 2018 (something Hester could never accomplish), Patterson continued to be a superstar returner for the Bears before joining the Falcons and becoming their starting running back.
Despite being in his early 30s, Patterson did quite well in his first two seasons as a running back, but it was obvious he would never lead the team anywhere as the RB1.
This caused the Falcons to draft generational prospect Bijan Robinson in 2023, and Patterson became the RB3 behind Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.
He joined the Steelers in the 2024 offseason, and despite finishing as their top kickoff returner, his stats of 240 return yards with 21.8 yards per return were a far cry from the numbers he used to put up in his prime. Jaylen Warren and Aaron Shampklin both averaged over 25 yards per kickoff return for the Steelers last year.
Even though he recently turned 34, Patterson complained about his lack of usage a bunch of times on social media last year, which isn't great when he's supposed to be a mentor for the younger players. At his age, he no longer has the juice to be an elite or even above-average returner, but still has the ego of a superstar.
Dalvin Cook, Free Agent
Despite tearing his ACL four games into his NFL career, Dalvin Cook became a star in 2019 and earned a five-year, $63 million contract extension with the Vikings in the 2020 offseason. He continued to ascend in 2020, as he ran for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns.
D'Onta Foreman, Free Agent
Much like Dalvin Cook, D'Onta Foreman bounced back from a devastating injury early in his career. In just his first game of his sophomore season, Foreman tore his Achilles and missed the rest of the year.
Who is the most unappreciated player in Texas football history?
I’ll start:
D’Onta Foreman:
• 3 Years
• 2782 Rushing Yards
• 20 Rushing TD’s
• 6.4 YPC
• Doak Walker Award Winner 🏆Who’s yours? ⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/vpmWtUTrtY
— One Stop Texas (@OneStopHorns) November 1, 2024
The Texans eventually decided to cut ties with him before he could attempt a comeback. After rushing just 22 times and being let go by several teams in the following two years, Foreman experienced a shocking career revival once Derrick Henry went down in the 2021 season, rushing for 80.3 yards per game in his last six games that year for the Titans.
He followed that up with a career year with the Panthers, but everything has been downhill since then. His stints in Chicago and Cleveland have been big failures, and he only rushed for 3.3 yards per carry last year in Cleveland.
With over 1,000 rushes in both college and the NFL (including 323 rushes in his last 11 collegiate games), it's clear that those runs have started to take a toll on him. His comeback was very inspirational, but the 29-year-old is most likely done at the highest level.
Ezekiel Elliott, Free Agent
Sometimes, a player gets chance after chance after chance until teams finally decide to give up on them. Unfortunately for Ezekiel Elliott, it seems like his chances have run out. One of the best CFB backs ever, Elliott ran for 3,699 yards and 41 touchdowns in his final two years at Ohio State.
He then had an exceptional start to his career in the NFL, leading the league in rushing in two of his first three years with the Dallas Cowboys. He signed a six-year, $90 million extension with the Cowboys and made the Pro Bowl after signing that massive deal.
However, all the hits he had taken up to that point started to take a toll on his body. He ran the ball over 1,800 times from 2013 to 2019. After a steady decline over the next three years, he was released in 2023 and signed with the Patriots. He started the year as the Pats' RB2, but started in their last five games of the year once Rhamondre Stevenson went down.
He averaged 3.0 yards per carry in those games. He made a surprise return to the Cowboys in 2024 and started the year as their RB1, but lost his starting job to former understudy Rico Dowdle after just one game.
Elliott then signed with the Chargers before the playoffs, but never played a down for them. Zeke was one of the biggest names in all of sports a few years ago; even people who knew nothing about the NFL recognized his distinct look. However, his time as a star was up long ago, and he's no longer good enough to get playing time for a playoff team.
Raheem Mostert, Las Vegas Raiders
Proving your doubters wrong is great, but doing it twice is even better. Raheem Mostert did just that throughout his NFL career, but now that he's 33 and on a team with the most hyped RB prospect in ages, doing this for a third time seems very unlikely.
The #Raiders offense might do some serious damage this season.
(📷: @The33rdTeamFB) pic.twitter.com/yCXP0u0UNg
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) May 7, 2025
Mostert only had 41 carries in his first four seasons, but suddenly became an integral part of the 2019 49ers. He found the end zone eight total times in his last six regular-season games and scored four times against the Packers in the NFC Championship Game. He even scored a touchdown in Super Bowl LIV, but the Niners lost.
Sadly, injuries limited him to just nine games in the next two seasons. Everyone had given up on him, but Mostert proved everyone wrong once again with the Dolphins, leading the league in rushing TDs (18) in 2023 and making the Pro Bowl.
He fractured his sternum in the 2024 season, but played through this injury, which caused his numbers to plummet. Now, he's on the Raiders and is unlikely to see another renaissance now that Ashton Jeanty is in town.
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