Why Saquon Barkley asked Jalen Hurts if he's fearless

During a recent training camp practice, Saquon Barkley approached Jalen Hurts and asked him a straightforward question:

You think you’re fearless?

Strange question. Seemingly out of the blue. But somehow Hurts wasn’t fazed.

“Fearless?” Hurts answered in a mic’d up clip shared by the Eagles. “Yeah. Absolutely. You got some s— you’re gonna worry about but you have to check yourself. You either gonna pray or you’re gonna worry. You can’t do both. 

“God got it. God knows I work too. Shouldn’t be s— to fear when you done already put the work in. I come ready.”

Barkley seemed pleased with the answer.

But why did Barkley ask Hurts that question in the first place? The star running back said on Monday that he recently read a book called “Victory Favors the Fearless” — full title: “Victory Favors the Fearless: How to Defeat the 7 Fears that Hold You Back.” It was on his mind and it’s shaping his mindset in training camp.

Barkley said he asked several teammates the same question but it just so happened that Hurts was mic’d up that day.

What was Barkley’s biggest takeaway from the book?

“My biggest takeaway from the book is being OK with adapting,” Barkley said. “And attack and adapt. That was the biggest thing that I took from it. That’s how I want to focus on this whole camp, everything I do. If I’m messing up, if I’m making mistakes, do it full speed.

“Go out there and try to make plays, do it full speed, attack. And whatever happens, adapt and be ready for whatever. Trust in your faith. No need to have fear when you have faith. That’s kind of the message that I took from the book.”

The story in the book follows a fictional boxer named Mickey McGavin, a pro boxer struggling to overcome his fears during a series of ups and downs in his career.

The message really seemed to resonate with Barkley.

That was surprising and humbling news to author Darrin Donnelly when an email popped up in his inbox late Monday afternoon.

“I thought it was awesome,” Donnelly said to NBC Sports Philadelphia on Monday evening. “I couldn’t believe it. Just real cool. And I saw a clip of it and how he was talking about the attack and adapt, the real central message of the book. I loved it. I thought it was great.”

Donnelly said Barkley nailed the takeaway from his book. One of the big themes was about attacking and adapting without fear of making the wrong decision.

And that theme was actually inspired by a quote from late, great football coach Mike Leach, who was a big proponent of risk-taking. In fact, there’s one quote from Leach’s book “Swing Your Sword” that really stands out to Donnelly:

“When it comes to taking chances and sizing up risk, there are certainly some wrong decisions that get made, but they happen less often than you’d think. What affects an outcome more than anything else is effort and attitude.”

So this is a message that went from football to boxing and now back to football again at Eagles training camp.

“That really always stuck with me,” Donnelly said. “When you think about it, if we’re waiting for things to be just right before taking action, we’re never going to do it. So it’s all about weigh the pros and cons, make the best decision you can. Or if you’re being blindsided by some change, there’s nothing you can do about it. All you can do is worry about your attitude now. Adapt and attack.”

“Victory Favors the Fearless” is the fifth in Donnelly’s series of seven Sports for the Soul books. Donnelly says these books are similar to business fables but all take place in the world of athletics.

Donnelly had long been a reader of business and self-improvement books, but he also realized some of the best advice he had ever been given came from coaches, athletes and sports psychologists. And for good reason.

“They say ‘be positive’ and ‘think big’ and those sorts of things,” Donnelly said. “Well, what does that actually mean? And has that really been proven to change your results? And the answer is emphatically yes when you really study it.”

After six years of playing for the New York Giants, Barkley is now with the Eagles on a three-year deal to start a new chapter in his professional life. He’s entering what could be a pivotal season in his career.

To turn the tables, does Barkley think he’s fearless?

Yeah, he does.

“I think within your highs and lows,” Barkley said, “you’re going to have those moments where you question yourself and you lose trust in your faith but you always gotta find a way to get back.”

“I think the book illustrates a really good job of how to continue to try to improve every single day and get better. When you have that mindset and when you trust in the work you put in, you trust in the faith, you truly live your life and you go out in life in whatever your profession is and do it at a fearless level.”

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