Eric Bieniemy Reflects on NY Giants’ Decision to Trade Saquon Barkley: “They’re Obviously Licking Their Wounds”

If the NFL MVP award didn’t revolve around quarterbacks, Saquon Barkley would be the frontrunner this season. He still has a strong chance to win the OPTY. He’s had that much of an impact with the Eagles in his debut season, yet last year, he couldn’t even crack 1,000 rushing yards. Talk about being stuck in a bad situation. Instead of addressing that bad situation, however, the NY Giants—Barkley’s former team—chose to trade him. And Eric Bieniemy believes that was a massive blunder.

After making a comeback to the NFL coaching realm after a year-long stint in college coaching, Bieniemy, a former Eagles RB himself, couldn’t stop showering love on Barkley for the season he’s had so far. He even thanked his former team and Barkley for bringing the running game back—a position he knows has been undervalued from the start. Bieniemy saw that disregard for the position again when the Giants traded Barkley to their divisional rivals.

“I’ll say this. They’re obviously licking their wounds because they let a great player go. That kid has had a tremendous impact,” Bieniemy said on the latest episode of Speak.

Bieniemy is right on the money about the Giants regretting that trade. The NFC East team decided to roll the dice on Daniel Jones, who was coming back from an injury and never really showed the impact he had in his final year with the Duke Blue Devils.

He had a good rookie season, but he could never really improve his performance or maintain consistency. That was the case again in 2024, and now, the Giants are left with a vacancy at quarterback and a Hall of Fame-level running back traded to their divisional rivals. Things couldn’t be worse.

The Eagles, however, are reaping the rewards from their masterclass trade. Barkley has been so dominant that he surpassed the 2,000-yard mark this season, becoming one of only nine other RBs to ever achieve that feat.

Had he played in the season finale against the Giants (oh, the irony), Barkley would have broken Eric Dickerson’s long-standing record of 2,105 yards. The Eagles player was just 101 yards away. But HC Nick Sirianni decided to bench him, not wanting to risk injury—something Bieniemy even felt was the wrong call.

“Kudos to the Philadelphia Eagles, kudo to Saquon Barkley for bringing the run game back. What a hell of a job. As a coach, I really have a hard time not giving him an opportunity to go pursue that record. You know it’s just hard (watching that), being a historian and a fan of the game.”

That said, the Eagles have won three straight playoff games and are now in the Super Bowl. So, in a way, that was the right call, as no one can say for sure if they would have even made it to the big game without Barkley. Including Bieniemy.

“The difference (for the Eagles this season) is, I think right now, that guy that’s playing back there. No discredit to whoever has played in that position leading up to this year, but Saquon is the difference maker. The kid does a great job of making great things happen.”

Barkley will get his chance to make up for the season record he let slip next Sunday, February 9, at 6:30 PM ET. The Chiefs, meanwhile, have been unstoppable, but if Barkley performs as expected, it’s hard to imagine they can win it again this year.