If the best running backs held something called a Zoom meeting in the late 1980s, you might think it was a match race featuring Bo Jackson.

Jackson had it all: size, strength, unreal athleticism, Nike ad campaigns. The first all-star in two major sports broke baseball bats by staring at them. The dude had superpowers. If you think that’s hype, do a search on “Bo climbs wall” and watch the video.

He was kinda fast, too.

It is said, by some, that Jackson was timed at 4.12 seconds over 40 yards. Need context? Usain Bolt did it in 4.22.

But not even Bo Jackson could out-run injuries. In 1991, a hip dislocation he suffered while being tackled never got better and ended his NFL career after just 38 games. He hung on in baseball a couple more years with an artificial hip.

Because of his commitment to baseball, Jackson started his four NFL seasons with the Raiders late. If you base it on a 16-game regular-season schedule, he played 2.375 seasons.

Bo Jackson was never average in anything — but he would be for longevity as an NFL running back now, which is 2.57 seasons.

It makes recently retired Frank Gore’s 241 games in 16 seasons with 16,000 rushing yards — third all-time behind Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith — all the more impressive. It’s like remembering that Greg Maddux did what he did as a pitcher during the era when the hitters and the balls were juiced.

Of course not all running backs’ careers end in injury. But they tend to be done before even some deserving ones can get a second contract. They have the shortest average career of any NFL position.

They’ve become disposable. Supply exceeds demand, and GMs change RBs faster than batteries in TV remotes.

The problem with running backs isn’t so much that they’re underappreciated, it’s that they’re overly depreciated.

I first heard the new car analogy a few years ago: The moment you drive a running back off the college lot and into the demolition derby of the NFL his value shrinks with every yard added to his odometer.

Alabama coach Nick Saban has had such a string of great running backs that guys who were obviously ready to start and probably star as freshmen often had to wait their turn. This actually helped their draft stock — less wear-and-tear. The general rule of thumb is it’s better to draft quarterbacks who have played more downs in college and running backs who have played less.

The game has changed, with more emphasis on scoring than field position and defense. That means more passing and more of the salary cap is expended on the quarterback, and the other positions considered most conducive to his success or failure. Running backs rightfully wonder why they aren’t considered part of that group, since they block and catch passes, too.

The most important player on a football team used to be the star running back. He was the superstar. If Jim Brown played running back today, would he graduate to Hollywood celebrity?

NFL quarterbacks run more by design now, and literally take the ball out of the running back’s hands on option plays. If you say Payton, any fan under 50 or not a Bears fan thinks Peyton Manning, not Sweetness.

It has been said that the guys who coach on Sunday learn from the guys who coach on Saturday, and that they learn from the guys who coach on Friday. It’s never been more true than with this evolution of spread offenses, centered on athletic quarterbacks who can also throw, that started at the high school level.

Some running backs thrive, though, in the pass-to-set-up-the-run era that used to be the other way around.

Hawaii fans remember what Nate Ilaoa did as UH’s single back in the run-and-shoot offense in 2006, running through wide-open spaces, often on shovel passes, finishing in the end zone 13 times.

The game now, at all levels, is more fun to watch for most fans.

It is sad and strange, though, that the more an NFL running back produces, the less valuable he becomes.