[adeel]

"Running backs over 30 are almost extinct," Steiner says.

There are exceptions, of course. In 2004 the New York Jets' 31-year-old Curtis Martin won a rushing title, though a knee injury essentially ended his career shortly thereafter. In '06 the New York Giants' Tiki Barber, in his final NFL season, ran for 1,662 yards at the same age. The league's oldest halfbacks currently on rosters are 33-year-old Warrick Dunn, who recently returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being released by the Atlanta Falcons, and the Jacksonville Jaguars' 32-year-old Fred Taylor, who played in his first-ever Pro Bowl last February after rushing for 1,202 yards in 2007.

...

"It's one thing to be loyal, and it's another thing to be stupid," says one scout for an NFC team. "After five or six years, you have to be careful about paying any running back. I'd even say you have to be careful with guys who have 900-plus carries coming out of college; that’s a lot of wear-and-tear. And the bottom line is that running back and receiver are the easiest positions to fill through the draft, even in the later rounds."

It's a tough game when you rarely make it to 30 at a high level.