Revival: Great Star Says Barkley’s Improved Play Reflects Change of…

For the bulk of two-time Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley’s seven-year NFL career, the first six of which were spent with the New York Giants, he shared a backfield with middling quarterback Daniel Jones while the Giants didn’t have a top-flight receiver opposing defenses respected.

In his first season of a three-year, $37.75 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, Barkley is running like a man unburdened. Hs has the fifth-most rushing yards, 925, in his first eight career games with a team all-time. That production has him on pace for 1,965 rushing yards, which would break LeSean McCoy’s single-season Eagles record of 1,607 set back in 2013. Barkley is also averaging an NFL-best 133.9 scrimmage yards per game after racking up 199 — 159 rushing on 27 carries and 40 receiving on three catches — in a 28-23 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9.

“Saquon’s playing as well as I’ve seen him play,” Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said on Wednesday in advance of facing the Eagles at AT&T Stadium on Sunday.

Three of Barkley’s seven highest single-game rushing totals in his career have come in his first eight games as an Eagle, and he is averaging 2.5 yards before contract per rush, the third-most in the league among running backs this season. That’s a massive departure from his 2023 yards before contact per rush average of one yard, which ranked 32nd among running backs last season.

Playing with a dual-threat quarterback that actually scares defenses in Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia’s vaunted offensive line and two high-caliber receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith has unlocked the last bit of Barkley’s high-ceiling potential. That has the former Penn State star playing “peacefully” in the words Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons, a fellow former PSU standout.

“It’s his confidence, bro. Confidence in people are going to make the right blocks. He’s just playing his reads. He’s playing running back so peacefully,” Parsons said Wednesday. “A lot of people doubted that he would have that success, but just like his rookie year [with Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018], you put the weapons outside of him, you can’t stack the box against him. Let’s be real. You’re playing the Giants, you’re putting eight in the box and saying, ‘beat me with your weapons that you got.’ Now that he got some help out here, it’s been a night and day difference. Same thing with [Christian] McCaffrey [when he joined the San Francisco 49ers]. You can’t stack that box. When those good backs get into those good systems, it’s always good to see people get back to where they were at.”

Not only has Barkley gotten back to his Giants prime, but he is doing things never seen before like hurdling over a defender backwards on Sunday against the Jaguars. It’s impossible not to be drawn toward that type of player, which a reason why Barkley played a significant role in recruiting Parsons to Penn State in 2017. That was Barkley’s last year of college and Parsons’ last year of high school in Pennsylvania.