March
13, 2024 was a special day for Philadelphia Eagles fans everywhere. This marked the day that Saquon Barkley inked
a deal with the Eagles that would solidify him coming back home. Saquon may’ve been born in New York, but he
was raised in the state of Pennsylvania where he played both his high school and
collegiate football careers. Barkley
played his high school football at Whitehall High. Barkley’s high school is in Whitehall Township,
Pennsylvania, just about an hour outside the city of Philly. As a standout high school running back
Barkley rushed for an unprecedented 3,646 yards while accounting for 63
touchdowns between his sophomore to senior years. His senior year he rushed for well over 1,000
yards when he caught fire running for 1,856 yards and had 31 touchdowns.
Just
as Saquon played his high school football not too far from Philadelphia, he was
also lucky enough to play his college football career inside his home state of
P.A. He went to Penn State to play for
the Nittany Lions and showed everyone how good he would be his freshman year
posting 1,076 yards rushing with a total of 8 touchdowns. Upon his sophomore season he looked like a
mad man out there while compiling 1,496 rushing yards, 402 receiving yards, and
22 total touchdowns (18 rush tds). By
the time Barkley reached his senior year he already had numerous NFL teams
looking at him and hoping that he’d bring his elite skillset and style of
running to their offenses. In his Senior
year and final season at Penn State he ran for another 1,271 yards, recorded 18
touchdowns on the ground, caught 54 passes for an additional 632 receiving
yards and another 3 tds through the air.
After
incredible play from this unbelievably talented football player on both the
high school and college levels he was certainly ready for the big leagues, and
they were obviously ready for him. In
the 2018 NFL Draft the New York Giants elected to draft Saquon Barkley with the
2nd overall pick keeping him somewhat around the area of where he
had lived his entire life up to this point.
In his rookie season as a Giant, Barkley yet again outdid himself and
showed everyone he was poised to be a top tier NFL running back. With 1,307 rushing yards & 11 tds, while
also being an elite receiving threat posting 91 receptions for 721 yards and
another 4 tds. Saquon recorded a total
of 2,028 scrimmage yards with 15 tds and left teams legitimately perplexed and often
pondering what they could do to slow him down.
Following his colossal rookie NFL season his numbers were slightly grounded
his second time around accounting for a total of 1,441 yards and a combined
total of 8 touchdowns. Year three brought
a lot of disappointment for New York fans as Barkley only played in two games
before suffering both an ACL tear grade 3 & MCL strain. After his injuries in 2020 many fans feared
he wouldn’t be the same player and speculated that his explosiveness would be gone,
and his career would be over. Next season
Barkley’s numbers yet again suffered when he got hurt in week 5 when he ended
up with a low-ankle injury against the Dallas Cowboys. Over the next two seasons as a member of the
New York Giants, Barkley started to reclaim his rookie form even while enduring
some more minor injuries. 2022 Saquon recorded
1,650 total scrimmage yards, 1,312 rush yards and 10 total touchdowns, 2023 1,242
scrimmage yards, 962 rush yards, and 10 total tds.
In
conclusion, from my perspective, I think that Barkley returning to the city of brotherly
love and his home state of Pennsylvania will only revive and rejuvenate his career. I know that the Eagles lost their future Hall
of Fame center in Jason Kelce and his presence, football knowledge, and game
play will most definitely be missed. Having
a running back of this caliber widens the overall outlook of this offense with
Barkley’s abilities not just as a runner but also his greatness as a receiving threat
coming out of the back field. I like
what the Philadelphia Eagles are doing here with all their moves in the
offseason to help Hurts and the whole offense plus the moves that led to
bringing in veterans on the defense. If
the Eagles do not finish first or second in the NFC East and make another
playoff run this year it will certainly be a head scratcher.
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