How Saquon Barkley bolted to Philly and might have started an RB revolution

NEW ORLEANS -- Howie Roseman huddled with a handful of senior aides and personnel men for one of a series of meetings from the NovaCare Sports Complex in South Philly. It was January 2023, and the Eagles' executive vice president and his staff were in the midst of offseason planning. Philadelphia was days ahead of a Super Bowl run that would fall just short of the ultimate prize in a heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Roseman and his team were discussing the additions that might get them back to this stage. New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley was scheduled to become a free agent that year, and his name was raised in a way sources in the room said was more than fleeting. The Eagles had seen plenty of Barkley since he entered the league, and the NFC East, in 2018. They'd mostly limited him -- Barkley hadn't logged a 100-yard game vs. Philly since his rookie season -- but they also knew what was on tape. Barkley was a nightmare to game-plan against. "It's really hard to find difference-makers at any position," a team source said. "With a guy like [Barkley], positional considerations become less of a focus." The Giants ended up putting the franchise tag on Barkley, and the Eagles moved forward. Turns out they were getting a 14-month jump on the eventual prize. The 2023 season would include a late-season plummet highlighted by tension between quarterback Jalen Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni, who barely escaped with his job. Philadelphia sought big-picture solutions for the offense. Barkley's name was again raised as an option in January 2024 -- albeit a relatively pricey one that would serve as a departure from the franchise's usual methodology. Roseman hadn't paid running backs top dollar in recent years. The last Eagles back to receive a substantial deal was Demarco Murray, who was signed for five years and $40 million in a curious move instigated by then-head coach Chip Kelly in 2015. Murray lasted one season in Philadelphia. But Barkley was the type of player who transcended philosophy, the kind some Eagles scouts privately dreamed of acquiring as they watched him from the press box twice per season. Philadelphia made the deal for Barkley on the first day of free agency and watched 11 months later as he helped lift the Eagles to their second title with a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. Though the Chiefs limited Barkley to 57 rushing yards on 25 carries, his 2,504 combined regular-season and playoff yards would become the most in NFL history. "We knew that the focus would be on the run game and we took advantage of it," said Barkley, who added six catches for 40 yards. "We took advantage of it in the pass game. Jalen [Hurts] came out, played big and it took a team effort. Coaches, everyone in the Eagles organization, it takes all of us." The excitement about the possibilities with Barkley began building in the 2024 offseason and never abated even as green confetti rained on the running back and his teammates at Caesars Superdome on Sunday night. "When I heard that news," offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, the architect of the Eagles' elite blocking scheme, said of the acquisition, "I was like 'Holy cow. This is going to be unbelievable.'" People inside the building were elated. Running backs coach Jemal Singleton remembers introducing himself to other coaches as "Saquon Barkley's running backs coach" the day the news broke in mid-March. The most important, high-visibility part of the Eagles' run to Super Bowl LIX played a position that has seen its value plummet around the NFL, with a franchise tag figure that surpasses only that of kickers and punters. Barkley's acquisition raised a lot of questions for the team that let him walk, for the team that gave him more than $12 million per year in an out-of-character move and potentially for the league's view of the running back position moving forward. Barkley answered the questions about his value with one of the finest seasons by a running back in NFL history, and now comes the debate about whether his mesmerizing 2024 performance has changed anything in the NFL -- and Barkley's own future. "I'd like to say he's exceeded expectations, but he's always been one of the best players I've ever seen whenever I've watched him," Roseman said last week. "And I have always known about what kind of person he is because it's not hard to find that out. So I'm really not surprised by any of this, and I don't say that in an arrogant way, it's based on who he is, nothing to do with me, because this is who he's always been. And I'm just glad everyone gets to see that." AS THE EAGLES prepared for Super Bowl LIX, hundreds of NFL types descended upon Mobile, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl. Scouts gathered at bars in downtown hotels after the day's evaluations were complete, and one veteran scout weighed the merits of the term "generational talent" between cocktails. He concluded no player in this year's draft class fit the description, at running back or any other position. "That's Myles Garrett, Saquon Barkley, guys like that," the scout said. "Very few should be mentioned in this space." Still, when Barkley signed for three years and $37 million on the first day of 2024 free agency, the move carried some risk for the Eagles. Barkley had logged a heavy workload with 1,900 carries dating to his days at Penn State and had also sat out 25 NFL games over six seasons, with a right ACL tear and multiple ankle injuries compromising his availability. New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen highlighted the fears about Barkley's dependability when he made his stance clear during an episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks." "We've got to upgrade the offensive line, and you're paying [quarterback Daniel Jones] $40 million," Schoen told the front office group assembled in his office. "It's not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back." Schoen's words and that stance did not age well for the Giants, who won three games and benched Jones midway through the season, ultimately releasing him. Barkley would flourish elsewhere. Multiple NFL executives said injury history was their only reservation about the Barkley signing in Philadelphia, with one calling it a "no-brainer" because of the "caliber of player." "Based on their offense, you figured he'd have a good year -- not sure anybody knew he'd be [an] MVP [candidate]," an AFC executive said. "As long as he's healthy, I don't think anybody was doubting him. Anytime you have a talent like that, you can do a lot of things. He's 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. But as one national NFL scout pointed out, the key element was pairing Barkley with Hurts in the ground game. "That dual-threat offense with the [run-pass option] behind that great offensive line has brought out the best in Saquon," the scout said. "When they signed him, the first thing I said is, 'He's going to have a monster year.' And he did."