There aren’t many people in sports, or any industry, that has had a better time in the last 12 months than Saquon Barkley. You name it, he’s won it.
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Barkley dunked on the team that refused to pay him by signing with their most bitter rivals. He then had a historic campaign for the Philadelphia Eagles, becoming the ninth player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season en route to Offensive Player of the Year honors. He was the catalyst for the Birds’ run to the Super Bowl, and while he was bottled up on the big stage, he still came away with a ring.
But even after the season ended, the plaudits continued to roll in. First, he signed a two-year, $41.2 million extension with Philly to become the highest-paid RB ever. Then, his iconic play-of-the-year reverse hurdle landed him on the cover of the legendary EA Sports Madden NFL 26 video game. That last one definitely brought out the 12-year-old in Barkley.
Barkley was honored just to be in the conversation, but he admitted the approach caught him off guard.
“They actually ask you, ‘Do you wanna be on the cover of Madden?’ I wonder how many people have ever… They just ask you first, and you have to accept being on the cover of Madden. And to me, I’m like, why would I ever say no?” The RB started.
“Being on the cover of Madden and how many guys that I grew up watching and been fans of, and to be in that fraternity now. My kids will always gonna be able to go back to a certain Madden and see their dad on it,” he continued.
The Madden curse has claimed many a season, but the risk was certainly worth the reward for Barkley. He is etched in video game history now. And on top of that, Madden NFL 26 released this edition’s 99 club last week.
And of course, the cover star was part of a group that also included the likes of his teammate, tackle Lane Johnson, as well as perennial All-Pros Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, and Myles Garrett.
“99 is big. I don’t gotta go and edit my player and make myself a 99 anymore. It’s cool. 99, Madden… Madden’s just part of the culture of football. And growing up, you wanna make it to the NFL, but you think about being a 99 overall, you think about being on the cover of Madden, being in Madden in general. So, my life’s been super amazing over the last year.”
Barkley also talked about how he still plays the video game often, even with his busy NFL schedule. He largely plays Madden in franchise mode, rather than the more popular online mode.
Barkley says he likes to pick a random bad team, trade away all of their good players for draft picks, and then build up his team in his own image thereafter. When asked if he’s using the Eagles right now, he said that his real-life team was too good to have fun playing with in the game. Instead, he’d use a middle-of-the-pack team like the Los Angeles Rams or a rebuilding outfit like the New York Jets.
