Saquon Barkley famously said more than once that he wanted to be “a Giant for life.”
It became an infamous expression for Giants fans when Barkley decided near the end of the 2023 season that he was ready to listen to offers from other teams after unhappily playing the year under the franchise tag.
Now, with the news Tuesday that he’s getting a two-year extension that will make him the highest-paid running back in NFL history, there’s an excellent chance that Barkley will be an Eagle for the rest of his life.
It’s already etched in stone that the Eagles will always have a special place in Barkley’s heart and mind. When you rush for more yards than any NFL player in a single season and win a Super Bowl while doing it, the team you do it with holds anniversaries to celebrate those events as long as your alive.
Barkley, provided he’s not still playing, will be in Philadelphia to celebrate those events at the age of 37. He’ll also come back at age 47, 57, 67, 77 and 87. For the record, his 87-year-old celebration of the 2024 season will take place in 2084. According to artificial intelligence estimates, they’ll be a lot more artificial intelligence in our world by then.
General manager Howie Roseman’s decision to give Barkley a three-year deal at the start of free agency a year ago will forever be a great one.
Now, Roseman is pushing the chips all in on Barkley. He undoubtedly listened to his star running back talk all season about how he wants to be one of the best running backs in league history. And we know he watched him look the part for the entire 2024-25 season.
The details of the two-year extension Barkley received from the Eagles are not entirely available. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Barkley is getting a two-year extension worth $41.2 million that will make him the league’s highest-paid running back and the first running back to make $20-million per year.
According to overthecap.com, Christian McCaffrey’s current deal with the 49ers is worth an annual average value of $19 million. After that, there was a huge drop off to the Colts' Jonathan Taylor at $14 million per year with Barkley coming in at No. 3 at $12.583 million per year.
Now, Barkley moves to the front of the line. Just two seasons after settling for the slightly more than $10 million he received after being tagged by the Giants, the running back has doubled that total in his new deal with the Eagles and reset the market for future star running backs.
Barkley, according to Schefter, will get $36 million guaranteed and also has the ability to earn an additional $15 million in incentives and escalators.
What we do not know, but can definitely assume with confidence, is that this deal also helps the Eagles' cap situation for the 2025 season.
The question is whether this was a smart deal by the Eagles. That answer will likely depend on what the Eagles are able to do this offseason based on their expected cap savings. The window is open for the Eagles to repeat as Super Bowl champion and the more good players they can keep or add this offseason will enhance that pursuit.
Barkley’s initial deal meant he would be with the Eagles through his age 29 season. Now, unless he is cut with a cap hit, he will be with the team through the age of 31, which is the 2028 season.
There is good reasons to believe that Barkley will still be a great back during the next two seasons.
A total of 32 players have rushed for 10,000 yards in league history with Emmitt Smith at the top of the list. Barkley, with 7,216 yards, should join that group at some point in his career.
Of the 32 players that have already done it, 23 of them rushed for more than 1,000 yards during both their age 28 and 29 seasons. Twenty-nine of the 32 ran for more than 1,000 yards in at least one of the two seasons. There were also 40 cases of a possible 64 during which those running backs averaged more than four yards per carry.
Those numbers drastically change, however, when the players reach the age of 30. Only 10 of the 32 players that have rushed for 10,000 career yards rushed for more than 1,000 yards in both their age 30 and 31 seasons and only 15 did it even once.
The backs that ran for more than 1,000 yards and also averaged more than four years per carry during their age 30 and 31 seasons were often the best of the best.
The list includes Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Frank Gore, the top three rushers of all-time. Curtis Martin did it with the Jets late in his career. The others were Fred Taylor, Warrick Dunn, Thomas Jones and Tiki Barber.
Adrian Peterson led the league in rushing at age 30 and then played in just three games at age 31.
Perhaps the best news for Barkley and the Eagles is that Derrick Henry just completed the best year ever by a running back 30 years of age or older.
To be sure the odds of Barkley still being great in 2028 are against him. But the Eagles already have one Super Bowl with him and if they can get another in the next four years, nobody will have any complaints regardless of how he’s playing at the age of 31.
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Bob Brookover can be reached at rbrookover@njadvancemedia.com