‘Saquon Is Dead to Me!’ Barkley Signing Breaks Eagles Mold - And Tiki’s Giants Heart

The Philadelphia Eagles did what they never do and paid RB Saquon Barkley. And in doing so, they just destroyed the overly emotional Giants.

PHILADELPHIA - In the NFL, they're called tendency-busters.

Saquon Barkley is the zig to every Philadelphia Eagles zag in the Howie Roseman 2.0 era at running back after signing a massive three-year, $37.75 million contract that could be worth up to $46.75 million with incentives, including $26 million fully guaranteed at signing, per ESPN.

If the Duffer brothers were looking for a Season 5 twist for "Stranger Things," they need no look further than that news coming from the NovaCare Complex. …

Unless, that is, they want to take a listen to New York radio for the Saquon response from “former friend” (we assume) Tiki Barber.”

“You’re dead to us, Saquon!” cried Barber, the Giants ex who presumably mentored Saquon. “You’re dead to me!”

That seems a bit much. But hey … it can argued that Philly’s move here breaks both the Eagles’ mold … and the Giants’ hearts.

In the modern era, the Eagles had devalued running back to the point that D'Andre Swift was the blue blood of the room in the 2023 season with a salary of just under $1.8 million, an excellent value by the way on the final year of his rookie deal after being acquired in a trade with Detroit during the draft before piling up over 1,000 yards.

Swift cashed that to the tune of a three-year, $24.5M deal with the Chicago Bears earlier Monday as the NFL's legal negotiating period with pending free agents kicked off. 

The RBs as a whole found a revitalized market after a moribund year that had many predicting doom this time around. Instead, a poor projected draft class had Roseman and several other GMs slamming the brakes and performing 180s at the position.

Few believed it but Roseman has always insisted that there were exceptions to every devaluation rule and back in 2017 the Eagles were eager to prove that by drafting now-San Francisco star Christian McCaffrey with the 14th overall selection.

CMac never got close to Philadelphia, coming off the board at No. 8 overall to Carolina. In the ensuing years, McCaffrey turned into everything the Eagles thought he was going to be, a generational talent who could dominate in the run and pass game.

His presence in San Francisco this season was something the Eagles watched in awe, helping turn Brock Purdy into an MVP candidate and the 49ers into a Super Bowl team.

If you can't get McCaffrey, why not get the next best thing to supercharge an already excellent offense with a highly-regarded play-caller in Kellen Moore coming in?

That's what the Eagles are telling you Barkley is with the deal they gave him -- an outlier in a sea of JAGs (just a guy).

How much better will Saquon Barkley be than D'Andre Swift? / © Eric Hartline, USA TODAY

Football is all about evaluation and if the Eagles are correct, look out.

The problem is that Barkley hasn't looked like a real superstar since his torn ACL in 2020.

He's still likely going to be an upgrade over Swift in 2023 or Sanders, who had over 1,200 yards rushing on the final year of his rookie deal in 2022, but McCaffrey-like?   

Like any contract once the real numbers come in for Barkley, they will almost certainly look more team-friendly than the immediate agent-driven ones. 

No matter the spin, however, this is a drastic sea change to the way Roseman and the Eagles typically do business for a back who averaged under 4.0 yards a carry and 7.0 yards per reception for the New York Giants last season.

Saquon Barkley Sends Message After Signing With Eagles

Add in the context of a poor offensive line and even poorer quarterback play if you like and you might even convince yourself that Barkey should be given a mulligan before dreaming about 2018 when he took the league by storm as the No. 2 overall pick out of Penn State.

In a league that moves faster than Tyreek Hill can traverse the 40, 2018 might as well be the Middle Ages. And Saquon is, we suppose, going to have to find some new friends.