“3 More Years”: Amid Saquon Barkley Hinting at an Early Retirement, Chris Simms Predicts a Timeline for It

With a Super Bowl win last season and recently gracing the Madden 26 cover, there’s no doubt Saquon Barkley has reached the peak of his career. After years of struggles in New York with the Giants and dealing with an incompetent front office, this success is well deserved. Everyone wanted the best for Saquon, and that finally came with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Yet, surprisingly, Barkley recently hinted at the possibility of an early retirement. Speaking on Green Light with Chris Long, the newly minted 2,000-yard rusher shared that when he decides to step away, he wants to do so on his own terms, much like one of his all-time favorite players.

“It’ll be out of nowhere… Similar to Barry Sanders,” Barkley said. Upon hearing this, ProFootballTalk’s Chris Simms and Mike Florio shared their immediate reactions and weighed in on how many more years they believe the running back has left in the NFL.

Florio’s gut reaction said two years. Howev6er, Simms gave Saquon a bit more credit. He noted how his career has been rejuvenated in Philly and predicted that the running back will torment his beloved Giants for one more year than Florio’s estimate.

“I’m going to say at least 3 more years of Saquon Barkley as a Philadelphia Eagle torturing my New York Giants,” Simms predicted.

“It pains me, but it doesn’t, because as far as people are concerned, Saquon is one of my favorite people in the NFL. He’s one of those guys, when he walks in a room, you can just look at him and know he’s a nice guy,” he added.

Although he has a bias toward the Giants, it was mature of Simms to give a realistic prediction for Barkley’s remaining career timeline. He clearly couldn’t overlook the fact that Saquon is a good person who’s easy to root for. Even though he’s now on a rival team, Simms still enjoys watching the star back torment defenses.

Earlier in the video, though, Florio pointed out that running backs take a lot of hits, meaning Barkley’s career could end at any moment—potentially on just one play.

“Based on the position he plays, I mean, another injury is just one play away. And I think that’ll be a factor in how long he plays,” Florio stated. 

“I just think that’s going to be a factor in his final analysis because he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s going to want his last act to have been, ‘You saw me exiting the field in late September and you never saw me again the rest of the year,’” he concluded

It’s important to keep in mind that injuries often decide whether players continue their careers. Derek Carr recently retired due to a shoulder injury requiring a second surgery. Given the physical demands of Barkley’s position, who knows what serious injury might be waiting for him?

Overall, 2-3 years is a reasonable estimate for how much time we have left with Saquon. But it’s worth noting he’s the same age (28) as Christian McCaffrey, whose career outlook took a hit last season.

Unfortunately, the running back age cliff typically hits around 27, after which production tends to decline. So, Simms and Florio are likely spot on with their prediction — Barkley probably has another solid 2-3 years ahead.