Here are some things about Saquon Barkley you might not be aware of, given the Eagles’ notable Monday night in free agency.
One of the greatest splash free agents the Eagles have ever signed is Saquon Barkley. The Eagles gave him a three-year, $37.75 million contract that included $26 million in guaranteed money, making him the most paid running back in the history of the team.
As everyone knows, Barkley was a standout player at Penn State, the second overall choice in 2018, and he had some incredible seasons with the Giants.
However, these are ten facts about the 26-year-old running back that you most likely didn’t know:
1. Barkley completed his education at Whitehall High School, just outside of Allentown, in 2015. Though Whitehall has produced three NFL players, he is the only one without a Super Bowl ring. After graduating from Whitehall in 1976, Matt Millen played collegiate football at Penn State, just like Barkley. He was a Raider in 1980, a 49er in 1989, and a winner of Super Bowls in 1983 and 1980. After completing his education at Whitehall in 1998, Dan Koppen spent ten years as an NFL center. With the Patriots, he was a Super Bowl champion in 2003 and 2004. And so, against the Eagles, Millen and Koppen each won Super Bowls.
2. With two seasons of at least 1,300 running yards, 10 touchdowns, and 50 receptions, Barkley is one of just 12 backs in NFL history to accomplish this feat. As a rookie in 2018 and again in 2022, he experienced them. In the past 20 years, only two other backs have had two seasons like that: Christian McCaffrey and LaDainian Tomlinson.
3. Barkley broke Reggie Bush of the Saints’ record of 88 receptions in 2006 with his 91 catches in 2018, the most ever for a rookie running back. The 91 catches rank as the 10th most by a running back and the fifth most by any rookie in history.
4. Iran “The Blade,” Barkley’s great-uncle As a professional boxer, Barkley won three weight classes and the world championship. Barkley competed from 1982 to 1999. He won the WBA light heavyweight title in 1992, the WBC middleweight title in 1988 and 1989, and the IBF super middleweight title in 1992 and 1993. Ring Magazine called his 1989 defense of the WBC middleweight title versus Roberto Duran Fight of the Year. Duran prevailed in a tie vote.
5. Since he entered the NFL in 2018, Barkley has scored 14 touchdowns of at least 20 yards – nine rushing and five receiving. Only Derrick Henry has more during the same span with 17.
6. Barkley is the only player ever with three career rushing touchdowns of at least 50 yards against the Eagles – a 50-yarder at the Linc in 2018, a 51-yarder at MetLife in 2018 and a 68-yarder at the Linc in 2019. Only Jim Brown and John “Frenchy” Fuqua had two. Only Barkley and Fuqua had two 50-yarders in the same season vs. the Eagles. Since 2018, the Eagles have allowed six rushing TDs of at least 50 yards – three by Barkley and one each by Rashaad Penny, Adrian Peterson and Aaron Jones.
7. Barkley, who was fourth in the 2017 Heisman Trophy voting behind Baker Mayfield, Bryce Love and Lamar Jackson, will become the first running back who was a Heisman Trophy top-four vote recipient to play for the Eagles since Darnell Autry in 2000. Autry averaged 3.0 yards on 112 carries for the Eagles in his second and final NFL season. That 3.0 figure is lowest by any Eagle with at least 100 carries in the last 30 years. At Northwestern in 1995, Autry rushed for 1,675 yards and 14 touchdowns and was fourth in Heisman voting, behind Ohio State running back Eddie George, Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier and Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel.
8. When Barkley was 8 years old and playing for the Hokendauqua youth football team in Whitehall, he made a deal with his father — Alibay Barkley — that if he scored 15 touchdowns in the season, his dad would have to give him $100. He had 14 and took off on a 99-yard TD and ran over to his dad with a big smile on his face knowing he was going to get his $100. Then his dad pointed to a penalty flag that negated the long touchdown, and the ball was spotted way back at the 20-yard-line. As told in a story by Mark Wogenrich in the Dec. 18, 2016, Allentown Morning Call, Barkley took off on the next play and scored an 80-yard touchdown. “I had to give him the money,” his dad said.
9. Barkley’s favorite player growing up was Curtis Martin, who was with the Jets when Barkley’s family lived in New York. Before the 2018 draft, Barkley got to spend some time with Martin, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. And the two of them played … chess. According to an ESPN story quoting a radio interview Barkley did with Tiki Barber, the chess match didn’t go so well for Barkley. “I’m not going to lie to you, he put a whupping on me,” Barkley said. “He kind of toyed with me a little bit. He told me I’ve got a lot more work to do to become a better chess player.”
10. Josh Adams from Central Bucks South, Miles Sanders from Woodland Hills, and Barkley from Whitehall High were three of the six running backs on the 2014 Pennsylvania all-state football team. In 2018, Barkley was the top rusher for the Eagles; in 2019, 2020, and 2022, Sanders was, and, barring an injury, Barkley will be this coming season. Charles Snorweah from Pennsbury, Jake McCarthy from Scranton, and Connor Slomka from Pine-Richland—whose quarterback was Ben DiNucci—were the other running backs on the all-state squad. McCarthy is entering his fourth major league season as a starting outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
