He didn’t play a snap in the preseason, so Friday night will be the first chance to see Saquon Barkley in an Eagles uniform.
“He’s superhuman,” DeVonta Smith said. “So excited to see the show.”
Barkley, the Eagles’ prize offseason acquisition, makes his Eagles debut in São Paulo Friday when they face the Packers in the season opener.
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Barkley’s 5.6 career rushing average on opening day is 10th-highest in NFL history by a running back (minimum 50 carries). He’s had three 100-yard games on opening day, including a 164-yard game (with six catches) in a Week 1 win over the Titans in 2022.
“Something I've been doing since I was 6 or 7 years old, so I'm just thankful and blessed that I get to play this game and I get paid a lot of money to do something I've been doing since I was a kid,” Barkley said at his locker Tuesday, before the Eagles left for Brazil. “First-game jitters definitely out of the way after the first snap.”
There is so much intrigue surrounding Barkley.
For starters, he’s been an Eagles killer since he entered the NFL. His three career touchdowns of 50 or more yards vs. the Eagles are tied for 2nd-most all-time (behind Washington’s Hugh Taylor in the 1940s and 1950s).
Philadelphia Eagles
Also, he was such an unusual signing, since Howie Roseman had never before given a long-term contract to an outside running back. And there’s the mystery over which Barkley the Eagles will get – the Pro Bowler of 2018 and 2022 or the guy who battled injuries most other years.
And there’s the fact that the Eagles moved on from a pretty good (and younger) Pro Bowl back in D’Andre Swift in order to sign Barkley.
A lot of questions surrounding Barkley, and we’ll start to get answers at 8:15 p.m. Friday.
“Super excited,” Barkley said at his locker Tuesday before the Eagles left for Brazil. “Finally here. Put a lot of hard work in, not only myself but this team. So I know how passionate this fan base is and I know how excited this fan base is about this team, but we're matching it, we're just as excited, we’re ready to go out there and put on a show.”
You can’t blame Barkley for being excited.
In his six years with the Giants, they averaged 5 ½ wins, had one winning season, reached the playoffs once and had a grand total of one other offensive Pro Bowler – tight end Evan Engram in 2020.
He’s coming to a team that during the same period has averaged 9 ½ wins, reached the playoffs five times and had a grand total of 21 offensive Pro Bowlers.
The Eagles have acquired several Pro Bowl running backs in the past with mixed results – Ricky Watters, Dorsey Levens, Chris Warren, DeMarco Murray, Ronnie Brown, Ryan Mathews, Jordan Howard.
This is different.
“Over the last six years I got to see him twice a year watching him do some of the most amazing things I’ve seen a running back do on the field,” Dallas Goedert said. “He fits so well into our offense and I’m really glad he’s here. He’s going to be a lot of fun to play with.”
It’s impossible to measure what having actual talented players surrounding him will mean for Barkley’s career.
Other than his rookie year, when Odell Beckham was still with the Giants, Sterling Shepard had the best season of his career and Eli Manning was in his final year as a starter, Barkley has been the focus of every defensive coordinator who’s faced the Giants.
Now, he’s part of a group that includes two elite receivers, a top-five tight end and a Pro Bowl-laden offensive line.
“I'm looking forward to seeing the Devonta show, the A.J. Brown show, the Jalen Hurts show, the Dallas Goedert show, all those guys,” Barkley said. “We put a lot of work in in camp. Obviously, we didn't go out there in preseason, but we had great competition with our defense and I think we’ve got a great game plan, so I'm excited to go out there and try to execute it.”
The Packers game will be the Eagles debut of Barkley but also Kellen Moore, the Eagles’ third offensive coordinator in three years.
“When you have so much talent on the team, I think he does a really good job of letting us go out there and let our God-given ability show,” Barkley said. “Take care of the ball, win your 1-on-1’s, more times than not we're going to be in a good position and like the outcome.
“That's the mindset that we have. That's the confidence that we have in each other. I think Kellen does a really good job installing the offense and all the offensive coaches did a really good job of making sure that we're educated on the offense. All that’s good. Now we get to go out there and put it on national television in Brazil.”
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