NEW ORLEANS — Howie Roseman huddled with a handful of senior aides and personnel males for considered one of a sequence of conferences from the NovaCare Sports activities Advanced in South Philly.
It was January 2023, and the Eagles’ govt vice chairman and his employees had been within the midst of offseason planning. Philadelphia was days forward of a Tremendous Bowl run that might fall simply wanting the last word prize in a heartbreaking loss to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. Roseman and his staff had been discussing the additions that may get them again to this stage.
New York Giants operating again Saquon Barkley was scheduled to develop into a free agent that yr, and his identify was raised in a manner sources within the room mentioned was greater than fleeting. The Eagles had seen loads of Barkley since he entered the league, and the NFC East, in 2018. They’d principally restricted him — Barkley hadn’t logged a 100-yard sport vs. Philly since his rookie season — however additionally they knew what was on tape. Barkley was a nightmare to game-plan in opposition to.
“It is actually laborious to seek out difference-makers at any place,” a staff supply mentioned. “With a man like [Barkley], positional concerns develop into much less of a spotlight.”
The Giants ended up placing the franchise tag on Barkley, and the Eagles moved ahead. Seems they had been getting a 14-month leap on the eventual prize. The 2023 season would come with a late-season plummet highlighted by pressure between quarterback Jalen Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni, who barely escaped together with his job. Philadelphia sought big-picture options for the offense.
Barkley’s identify was once more raised as an choice in January 2024 — albeit a comparatively expensive one that might function a departure from the franchise’s standard methodology. Roseman hadn’t paid operating backs high greenback in recent times. The final Eagles again to obtain a considerable deal was Demarco Murray, who was signed for 5 years and $40 million in a curious transfer instigated by then-head coach Chip Kelly in 2015. Murray lasted one season in Philadelphia.
However Barkley was the kind of participant who transcended philosophy, the type some Eagles scouts privately dreamed of buying as they watched him from the press field twice per season. Philadelphia made the deal for Barkley on the primary day of free company and watched 11 months later as he helped raise the Eagles to their second title with a 40-22 win over the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in Tremendous Bowl LIX. Although the Chiefs restricted Barkley to 57 dashing yards on 25 carries, his 2,504 mixed regular-season and playoff yards would develop into essentially the most in NFL historical past.
The joy in regards to the prospects with Barkley started constructing within the 2024 offseason and by no means abated whilst inexperienced confetti rained on the operating again and his teammates at Caesars Superdome on Sunday evening.
“After I heard that information,” offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, the architect of the Eagles’ elite blocking scheme, mentioned of the acquisition, “I used to be like ‘Holy cow. That is going to be unbelievable.'”
Individuals contained in the constructing had been elated. Working backs coach Jemal Singleton remembers introducing himself to different coaches as “Saquon Barkley’s operating backs coach” the day the information broke in mid-March.
Crucial, high-visibility a part of the Eagles’ run to Tremendous Bowl LIX performed a place that has seen its worth plummet across the NFL, with a franchise tag determine that surpasses solely that of kickers and punters. Barkley’s acquisition raised loads of questions for the staff that allow him stroll, for the staff that gave him greater than $12 million per yr in an out-of-character transfer and doubtlessly for the league’s view of the operating again place transferring ahead.
Barkley answered the questions on his worth with one of many best seasons by a operating again in NFL historical past, and now comes the controversy about whether or not his mesmerizing 2024 efficiency has modified something within the NFL — and Barkley’s personal future.
“I might prefer to say he is exceeded expectations, however he is all the time been top-of-the-line gamers I’ve ever seen at any time when I’ve watched him,” Roseman mentioned final week. “And I’ve all the time recognized about what sort of particular person he’s as a result of it is not laborious to seek out that out. So I am actually not shocked by any of this, and I do not say that in an smug manner, it is primarily based on who he’s, nothing to do with me, as a result of that is who he is all the time been. And I am simply glad everybody will get to see that.”
AS THE EAGLES ready for Tremendous Bowl LIX, a whole bunch of NFL sorts descended upon Cellular, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl. Scouts gathered at bars in downtown inns after the day’s evaluations had been full, and one veteran scout weighed the deserves of the time period “generational expertise” between cocktails.
He concluded no participant on this yr’s draft class match the outline, at operating again or every other place.
“That is Myles Garrett, Saquon Barkley, guys like that,” the scout mentioned. “Only a few ought to be talked about on this house.”
Nonetheless, when Barkley signed for 3 years and $37 million on the primary day of 2024 free company, the transfer carried some danger for the Eagles. Barkley had logged a heavy workload with 1,900 carries courting to his days at Penn State and had additionally sat out 25 NFL video games over six seasons, with a proper ACL tear and a number of ankle accidents compromising his availability. New York Giants basic supervisor Joe Schoen highlighted the fears about Barkley’s dependability when he made his stance clear throughout an episode of HBO’s “Arduous Knocks.”
“We have got to improve the offensive line, and also you’re paying [quarterback Daniel Jones] $40 million,” Schoen instructed the entrance workplace group assembled in his workplace. “It is to not hand the ball off to a $12 million again.”
Schoen’s phrases and that stance didn’t age nicely for the Giants, who received three video games and benched Jones halfway via the season, finally releasing him. Barkley would flourish elsewhere.
A number of NFL executives mentioned damage historical past was their solely reservation in regards to the Barkley signing in Philadelphia, with one calling it a “no-brainer” due to the “caliber of participant.”
“Based mostly on their offense, you figured he’d have a great yr — unsure anyone knew he’d be [an] MVP [candidate],” an AFC govt mentioned. “So long as he is wholesome, I do not suppose anyone was doubting him. Anytime you have got a expertise like that, you are able to do loads of issues. He is a core piece.”
Questions did persist about how Barkley would acclimate to an offense with a dual-threat quarterback and two high-end receivers in A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith. However as one nationwide NFL scout identified, the important thing factor was pairing Barkley with Hurts within the floor sport.
“That dual-threat offense with the [run-pass option] behind that nice offensive line has introduced out the perfect in Saquon,” the scout mentioned. “After they signed him, the very first thing I mentioned is, ‘He’ll have a monster yr.’ And he did.”
7:09
Is Saquon already an all-time nice RB?
Chris “Mad Canine” Russo, Jeff Saturday and Kimberley A. Martin debate whether or not Saquon Barkley has already established himself as top-of-the-line operating backs in NFL historical past.
His performances this season will without end stay in Philly folklore, echoing via Birds-obsessed dwelling rooms from Morristown to Drexel Hill. A sampling from a season during which Barkley would win the NFL dashing crown and league Offensive Participant of the 12 months with a franchise file 2,005 yards in 16 video games:
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147 yards and a couple of touchdowns on 17 rushes in a Week 3 win over a Saints staff that had been one of many league’s largest surprises as much as that time.
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176 yards and a landing on 17 carries in his first profession matchup in opposition to the Giants in Week 7
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A jaw-dropping 26-carry, 255-yard, 2-touchdown efficiency in opposition to the Rams in Week 12, adopted by a equally jaw-dropping 26-carry, 205-yard, 2-TD outing in opposition to those self same Rams in an NFC divisional spherical playoff sport seven weeks later.
Then, a Barkley-authored scene within the NFC Championship Sport provided sturdy proof the sport was over on the primary carry.
Barkley had been the emphasis for the Washington Commanders coming into the NFC title sport. The Commanders had been seeing Barkley for the third time this season and had been saying all the precise issues. Defenders would forestall residence runs by working in sync. They’d keep away from overconfident tackling angles, embrace the mundane and maintain Barkley contained. They’d fill gaps when he reduce into one other lane. The script had been written meticulously, till Barkley ripped it up.
On the primary play from scrimmage, Hurts pitched it as Barkley moved to his left, in what Barkley later revealed was a dummy name primarily based on a formation proven in a earlier matchup with Washington. Left sort out Jordan Mailata was on the transfer to swallow a defender. Tight finish Dallas Goedert moved his man 15 yards downfield. Commanders cross rusher Dante Fowler Jr. was tripped up throughout his pursuit, slowing linebacker Bobby Wagner within the course of. Stoutland famous that Eagles gamers wish to block additional laborious for Barkley due to how a lot he credit his teammates for good performs, which was the case right here.
Barkley dealt with the remaining, with a hesitation transfer, a spin and a cutback to dodge three defenders as if he had been again in grade college recess. A 60-yard landing as a delirious Lincoln Monetary Area crowd rejoiced and Commanders coach Dan Quinn’s eyes widened.
“Uncommon change of route, spins, leap cuts, imaginative and prescient behind the road, seeing a security and dealing it again — he has the quickness of a smaller again and the scale of an enormous again,” Quinn mentioned of Barkley afterward.
The brilliance within the Eagles’ plan for Barkley stretches past the participant’s immeasurable talent to the imposing nature of the gamers blocking for him. The Eagles have lengthy introduced one of many league’s elite strains. Barkley was the precise Eagle, on the proper time, behind the precise line to catalyze a Tremendous Bowl run. The way in which the Eagles’ line synchronized behind him appeared like a dance routine. Chiefs defensive position coach Joe Cullen joked that the Eagles’ line can “block out the solar … most likely the largest line we have gone in opposition to,” which requires near-mistake-free tackling to beat them. Cullen & Co. did as fantastic a job in opposition to Barkley on Sunday as might be anticipated, and the Eagles sill completed with 135 yards on the bottom.
“Have you ever seen them? Large, enormous guys,” Commanders defensive sort out Johnny Newton lamented. “These guys work nice collectively as a bunch. Actually disciplined. They do their jobs at a excessive stage. The way in which they stunt collectively, transfer collectively, communication pre-snap. Identical web page. It is like a routine, man.”
Now the NFL public awaits a take a look at Barkley’s 2025 dance card.
BARKLEY IS VIEWED not as a one-hit marvel however a participant the Eagles can construct round … not less than within the brief time period. He turned 28 on Tremendous Bowl Sunday and is due a $1.17 million base wage in 2025, together with a $9.843 million choice bonus, which the Eagles will nearly certainly pay. He is due $14 million in 2026, the ultimate yr of his present deal. Philadelphia can determine nicely earlier than then whether or not to increase his contract or let him play it out, setting the stage without cost company at age 30 — largely thought-about the hazard zone for backs.
One league govt predicts the Eagles, recognized for being proactive on participant offers, might be open to extending Barkley by one or two years to offer him extra up-front cash whereas defending the again finish with escape hatches. His magical 2024 season paved the highway, nevertheless it’s the following two seasons that may decide whether or not Barkley can stay wholesome and productive sufficient to stay on a Corridor of Fame path.
“I may see them tacking on a yr or two with a marginal bump in pay over 2025 and 2026,” the manager mentioned. “However [the Eagles will] possible solely do a deal if very low danger.”
His legacy and contract apart, Barkley has strengthened the operating again’s standing within the sport at a time when many groups have devalued the place.
One veteran AFC assistant mentioned the emphasis on big-money passers over the previous decade brought about defenses to more and more drop into protection, with extra two-deep-safety appears. This actuality in flip impressed offenses reminiscent of Philadelphia’s to return to the run extra closely over the previous two seasons. Whereas few backs boast Barkley’s capacity, the development he helped exemplify may change the calculus for groups who may search to maneuver operating backs up draft boards and free agent want lists.
“It is about time operating backs begin getting credibility,” an AFC govt mentioned. “You will not signal a mean again to huge cash, however you’ll signal a mean quarterback to huge cash. Perhaps that is as a result of groups had been attending to Tremendous Bowls with out an elite again. However with the evolution of the sport, groups are returning to doing issues we did finest. Everyone knows how huge an element a operating again is to an offense.”
Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton was fast to notice final week that 5 totally different rushers produced 1,400 or extra yards this season, a Barkley-led vengeance tour. Just one rusher (Christian McCaffrey) surpassed 1,400 final season. The flexibility to run the ball while you need adjustments the complexion of a sport, Bolton mentioned.
“[Backs] on the NFL stage felt disrespected, they usually took possession of it this offseason,” Bolton mentioned. “You have got elite guys working collectively and looking for the easiest way to be valued once more. They got here again this yr and are hungry. You possibly can inform with how they’re operating the soccer.”
The Vikings’ Aaron Jones, Chargers’ J.Ok. Dobbins and Steelers’ Najee Harris are listed among the many league’s high 50 free brokers and can supply a take a look at of whether or not the paradigm is really shifting. Working again and 2024 Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty, a consensus top-10 alternative in present ESPN mock drafts, may also discover himself coveted one season after “2K Sa.”
Past this season, the Payments’ James Cook dinner, Jets’ Breece Corridor or any variety of star operating backs set without cost company in 2026 can have Barkley to thank for the improved profile. Working backs will not return to the times of being the highest-paid gamers. However there’s room for the place to develop, and it took a transcendent expertise to enliven it.
“There are specific gamers within the historical past of this league which can be difference-makers — every part’s totally different, manufacturing stage, explosiveness,” Stoutland mentioned. “While you get your palms on a man like that, you are very lucky.”
