The brick and mortar of a team in the salary cap era are the players who are closed to the ball (i.e. the lines), not the ones who touch the ball the most (except for the Center). A QB, RB and WR on a bad team should be place holders until the OTs, C, DLs, DEs, MLB(s), and maybe TE can be addressed.
Running backs are plug & play. Barkley may have been good for marketing, but the #2 pick by this organization at that time was wasted on him. He might sell some jerseys, but UConn fans are quite aware that wins are more important.