Eagles Saquon Barkley Gone From New York But Not Forgotten

The Eagles running back has his sights set on helping the Eagles' offense find an identity while keeping an eye on the Giants and his friend Daniel Jones and taking a call from Brian Daboll.

Eagles RB Saquon Barkley / John McMullen/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Saquon Barkley may be gone from New York, but he isn’t forgotten.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll called the Eagles running back before Barkley suited up for his first game with his new team in Brazil.

"He called me and just wished me good luck,” said Barkley on Thursday. “That's really what it was. I said thank you and wished him good luck the rest of the season. I stayed in contact with a lot of guys over there.

“I mean, I was there for six years and have a lot of friends there. No bad feelings. I hope they are able to bounce back and get things rolling.”

New York got rolled in its opener by the Minnesota Vikings, 28-6. The Giants were unable to score a touchdown while Barkley rang up three of them in Sau Paolo in a 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers.

Like New York hasn’t forgotten Barkley, he hasn’t forgotten New York.

“I know lot of people think there's like bad blood between me and New York, but in reality, it's not that at all,” he said. “It's a business and we understand, I understand. I think fans got caught up in that.”

Barkley is good friends with NY quarterback Daniel Jones, who is under a lot of pressure to win and if he doesn’t find a way to defeat the Washington Commanders on Sunday, he could find himself on the bench.

“I talked to him,” said Barkley. “I'm really good friends with DJ. Obviously, he didn't have the game that he wanted. I just let him know to go out and play free. Do what you do best.”

Whatever it is that Jones does best is the problem, but that is New York’s problem. The Eagles and Barkley have to find way to build on their first victory when they host the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night (8:15).

Barkley will enter the game as the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week after punishing the Pack for 109 yards rushing and two scores and 23 receiving with another touchdown.

“I think we still are continuing to get a feel for our identity,” said Barkley. “I don't think we're going to just figure that out in Week 1. What's our favorite run plays? What's our favorite plays to go to in the offense?

“Just continue to trust in the system, continue to trust in each other. Never get complacent. Even when we play well, it's better to be hard on ourselves and see what we can improve on.”

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