Saquon Barkley: The best player in the world? How the Philadelphia Eagles star joined the NFL’s MVP race

New York Giants owner John Mara famously warned general manager Joe Schoen this summer he would have a “tough time sleeping” were Saquon Barkley to land with their division rival Philadelphia Eagles in free agency. Rumour has it, Mara has not had a wink all season.  

Barkley has since torpedoed NFL defenses into oblivion and consigned the Giants to pitiful irrelevance, serving as the tailor-made focal point to Philadelphia’s rushing operation having seen New York elect against paying him only to bench and release their $160m quarterback Daniel Jones.

It would prove the best thing that could have ever happened to Barkley’s career as he traded in a losing roster marred by personnel craters, within which he posed as THE offense while shouldering the bulk of the workload to the sight of little reward. Funnily enough, averaging more than 20 touches a game is slightly more enjoyable behind a competent offensive line within a winning team than it is in the surroundings of MetLife mediocrity.

His move from blue to green has underlined what the NFL had already long been aware of, but had perhaps allowed to go unsung in light of Giants misery. That being he governs an exclusive league of his own, the members of which have a proclivity for deviant feats of athleticism most mortals could only dream of mirroring.

The latest instalment took place Sunday when he posted 302 scrimmage yards, including 255 on the ground and touchdown runs of 70 and 72 yards, to guide the Eagles to a 37-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Not for the first time this season, a Saquon special prompted awe-struck team-mates, among those being wide receiver AJ Brown.

“You already the best running back in the world, I think you’re the best player in the world,” Brown was heard saying in a clip by NFL Mic’d Up.

Brown had already conceded earlier in the week he had been forced to reconsider his best player, his previous allegiance lying with Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry following their time together with the Tennessee Titans.

“I literally told Nick [Sirianni, Eagles head coach] a couple weeks ago that Derrick was the best I’ve ever played with. Then he [Saquon] jumped over somebody backward. I had to rethink it, man. He’s incredible, he’s touched by God and works hard,” Brown told NBC’s Devin McCourty ahead of the Rams game.

With Sunday’s performance Barkley now leads the NFL with 1,649 yards from scrimmage through 11 games, second most by any player in his first 11 games with a team behind Eric Dickerson’s 1,726 with the Rams in 1983. That includes a league-high 1,392 rushing yards at 6.2 yards per carry and 257 receiving yards from 27 catches while averaging just shy of 150 scrimmage yards per game.

It leaves him on pace to rival the single-season scrimmage yards record of 2,509 set by running back Chris Johnson with the Titans in 2009. Only Henry (4,728) has more scrimmage yards than Barkley (4,541) since 2022, prior to which his numbers were skewed while missing 21 games across three seasons – 14 in 2020 – due to injury.

“He’s a different type of player,” said Rams edge rusher Jared Verse post-game. “I’ve never seen a running back like that. He can go downhill. He can bounce. And he did both of those on us, so we have to be better across the board.”

Barkley has contributed 1,129 of Philly’s 2,181 yards on offense across a seven-game winning streak since the bye, marking 40 per cent of the Eagles’ output from scrimmage alongside his seven touchdowns in that period.

Sure, he may be reaping the rewards of a Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata-anchored lane-ploughing offensive line among the most complete in the league. Sure, he may be exploiting the two-way threat of Jalen Hurts and a dynamic receiving tandem of Brown and DeVonta Smith that forces defenses to balance their attention in a way the Giants and their one-trick Saquon offense never warranted. Sure, the production of Barkley and success of center Cam Jurgens, who has looked every bit a long-term successor for Jason Kelce much to the pain of rivals, might also come hand in hand. But there can be no doubt over the manner in which Barkley has elevated Sirianni’s offense, from the consistent short-yardage efficiency to defining house calls that have transformed or buried games at crucial moments.

It has thrust him into the MVP conversation as the latest candidate tipped with a chance of becoming the first running back to scoop the accolade since Adrian Peterson in 2012. Only 13 winners of the MVP award have been a running back in the Super Bowl era, the slim chances of the position trumping its quarterback counterparts reminded last year as Christian McCaffrey slipped out of the discussion despite his league-high 2,023 yards and 21 touchdowns from scrimmage.

“It’s the thing that makes him so dangerous is that you get him the ability to get to the second level unabated, and he gets enough speed, and he’s excellent,” said Rams head coach Sean McVay last week. “He’s as good as there is as a slash runner to be able to work edges and then be able to erase angles and be able to finish. That’s why he had the production that he had, and that’s why he’s had arguably an MVP type of season so far.”

The smug smirk on the face of Hurts told the story as Barkley raced clear for his 72-yard touchdown against the Rams, the Eagles quarterback revelling in the knowledge he is now lined up alongside a freak that makes his job that little bit easier. Reed Blankenship’s imitation of the ‘Scream’ painting, Jordan Davis’ head shake in disbelief and a speechless Sirianni had told the story as Barkley conjured a backwards hurdle against the Jacksonville Jaguars weeks earlier, the Eagles revelling in the knowledge that their otherworldly running back can do things no other player in his position can do.

Needle-shifting production has been matched by weekly doses of jaw-dropping genius in igniting Super Bowl contention that had disappeared last season. Barkley’s record-chasing campaign comes at a time in modern football where running back franchise tag numbers have stagnated and where teams have sought to distance themselves from handing lucrative multi-year deals to running backs in fear of the position’s longevity, operating with the belief cheaper solutions can be found within a pass-first era.

His efforts may not spark a revival in running back value or an escalation in investment, but they do raise questions over how the league does perceive running back value. Barkley has lifted the Eagles offense, Henry has taken the Ravens offense to a new height and Josh Jacobs is the focal point of Matt LaFleur’s Green Bay Packers offense, the veteran trio offering some defiance to recent trends following their offseason moves.

Barkley and Henry will fittingly meet this Sunday when the Eagles face the Ravens in what will serve as the earliest ever collision of two 1,300-yard runners in an NFL season. The last player to rush for at least 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns through 12 weeks was Shaun Alexander in 2005, hence Barkley and Henry’s two-horse race for Offensive Player of the Year.

History – along with Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen – suggests MVP may elude him (and Henry, for that matter). But there is nobody playing better football in the NFL than Saquon Barkley heading into Week 13.

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