Eagles Top 25 Best Players Countdown: Newcomer To Backfield Checks In At No. 7

The New York Giants moved on from their No. 2 pick six years ago, and the Eagles are only too happy to have him now.

Eagles RB Saquon Barkley / John McMullen/Eagles SI

PHILADELPHIA – He’s 27 and has his share of doubters with more than 1,200 carries on his resume.

The Eagles are banking on running back Saquon Barkley having a couple more years and plenty more carries to give before the three-year contract they gave the New York Giants castoff in March expires.

Despite some doubts on the outside as to whether Barkley can still deliver the kind of production he did in the first few years of his career, before an ACL tear sidelined him in 2020, he is still one of the best players on the Eagles roster.

Barkley checks in at No. 7 on our list of the top 25 best Eagles heading into training camp.

The top 25 list has become an annual affair of SI.com Eagles writer Ed Kracz and John McMullen as the two reporters submit their top 25 lists at the same time so each would be unaffected by the others. No. 1 on the list is awarded 25 points and so on down the list with No. 25 receiving one point.

Barkley received a total of 38 points to claim is spot here, with 18 coming from McMullen for ranking the RB No. 8 on his list and Kracz putting him at No. 6 on his.

The offense is on a bit of a “run” lately – pun intended with Barkley being the focus here.

After just two offensive players pop up until reaching the top 10, Barkley is now the third straight offensive player to make the list.

Eagles RB Saquon Barkley. / John McMullen/Eagles Today

Here is the top 25 list so far:

No. 25: Kelee Ringo

No. 24 Cooper DeJean

No. 23: Isaiah Rodgers

No. 22: Avonte Maddox

No. 21: Brandon Graham

No. 20: Mekhi Becton

No. 19: Milton Williams

No. 18: Cam Jurgens

No. 17: Devin White

No. 16: Bryce Huff

No. 15: Reed Blankenship

No. 14: Jordan Davis

Eagles NT Jordan Davis / John McMullen/SI Eagles

No. 13: Josh Sweat

No. 12: Jake Elliott

No. 11 Darius Slay

No. 10: C.J. Gardner-Johnson

No 9: Dallas Goedert

No. 8: Landon Dickerson

No. 7: Saquon Barkley

The Eagles jumped on Barkley quickly. Once the Giants decided to move on from the player they drafted No. 2 overall in 2018, Philly general manager Howie Roseman pounced.

So quick was he to add another piece to the offense, that there was an investigation into whether he had recruited Barkley before free agency began. The NFL cleared the Eagles were cleared of any tampering charges.

Barkley likes what he has seen so far from his new team and teammates.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said this spring. “You know there’s a lot of talent. There was a talent before I got here. I feel like I can only add to that. At the same time, you can’t look too far. That’s the beauty of coming in every single day and working with each other every day.”

The Eagles plan for Barkley, at least what offensive coordinator indicated it would bei the spring, is to monitor Barkley to keep him fresh and available for 17 games and potentially beyond.

“Obviously, we've got to try to utilize him as much as we can while understanding it's a long season for running backs,” said Moore. “We've got great guys behind him in Kenny (Gainwell) and (rookie) Will (Shipley) and all the guys back there that we're excited about. We're fortunate to have Saquon.”

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