After a frustrating series of contract negotiations with the New York Giants ultimately resulted in Saquon Barkley being released from the organization, the disgruntled running back signed with the team’s division rival, the Philadelphia Eagles. The rest, as they say, was history.
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The move changed the Eagles’ fortune for the better, but it also presented Barkley with an opportunity for revenge. When it came to facing off against his former employer, that added sense of motivation manifested itself in a terrifying way.
On the latest episode of the 7pm in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony podcast, Barkley’s teammate, DeVonta Smith, detailed the moment in which he knew that the Penn State product was “in that mode.”
“When you’re in the game, everybody kind of has their own little gesture of when you that they are in that mode. So, for Saquon, he’ll be over there growling. …He was on the sideline, he was growling, I was like ‘Oh yeah, he in that mode.’ That’s when he ran the dude over.”
Given the results of the matchup, it’s safe to say that Barkley was in fact, in that mode. The reigning Super Bowl champion amassed 176 rushing yards and a touchdown en route to a 28-3 victory over the Giants in Week 7.
Averaging 10.4 yards per carry, the bell cow back needed only 17 touches to absolutely demolish the team that once spent the second overall pick in the NFL Draft on him. While his gameday tactics may have been fear-inducing, Smith recalled a much more composed version of Barkley when first meeting his newfound teammate.
Suggesting that he knew a special season was in the cards from day one, Smith explained the transformation that he saw in Barkley from practice to game day.
“In training camp, I was watching him and I’m like ‘Okay, he’s cold. He got it.’ But then, when you watch him in the game, you’re like ‘Oh, this mother ****er is different!’ I have never seen something like this, man… When he hits the hole, it’s like a different gear, and you’re not catching him.”
Barkley’s 2024 season proved to be one of the best-rushing campaigns in NFL history, surprising even his teammates. Nevertheless, the 2024 Offensive Player of the Year now puts that behind him as he attempts to avoid the reputation of a one-hit-wonder.
Smith also admitted that he wasn’t the only wide receiver on the team to be blown away by the athletic ability of Barkley. In confessing that “…Me and A.J. always talk about how different he is,” the Alabama product highlighted the running back’s backward hurdle as the moment that Barkley broke their brains.
Operating under the assumption that they had seen everything that there was to see, Smith recalled that,
“At this point, we’re like aight, we’ve done seen everything, we understand he’s different. When he jumped over the dude, I go looking for A.J. I’m looking at him like ‘Bruh, it’s no way he just jumped over somebody backwards.’ I done seen everything already, I would’ve never thought that you jumped over somebody backwards. I can’t believe it.”
Barkley’s 2024 rushing performance won’t be forgotten anytime soon, neither by fans nor his teammates. With the only surprise remaining being whether or not he can prove to do it again, Barkley and the rest of the Eagles’ roster now turn their attention towards the 2025 regular season as they hope to defend their Super Bowl title.
