5 NFL players who will fall off a cliff in the 2020 season

2. Mark Ingram, RB, Baltimore Ravens

This three-time Pro Bowler will be 31 years of age in late-December. Now, Mark Ingram very well could replicate the Frank Gore-Adrian Peterson-Emmitt Smith ilk of playing into his 30s. But that is more of a possibility than a probability.

Age is the first strike against him. Only 22 running backs in NFL history have had over 800 rushing-yard seasons at the age of 31. About 32 percent of those tailbacks are now in the Hall of Fame. Ingram’s candidacy into the Hall of Fame is an extreme longshot unless he does otherworldly things in the next few seasons. The odds are that Ingram will follow the trajectory of thousands of other running backs and be close to done at age 31.

The second strike against Ingram this season is depth chart positioning. He is still a reliable runner of the football but the Ravens backfield is increasingly crowded. How so?

The Ravens have the following running backs slated to compete for playing time this season: rookie J.K. Dobbins, Justice Hill and Gus Edwards. That does not even take into account the enormous percentage of rush attempts quarterback Lamar Jackson will allot for himself.

A sensible working theory is that Dobbins will emerge as the most capable tailback on the squad, Jackson will do his thing, and Ingram, Hill, and Edwards will fight for the breadcrumbs. Sure, Ingram could pick up those breadcrumbs around the goal line and be a short-yardage specialist. Yet, his days of serving as a bell-cow tailback are likely finished.