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The Pros and Cons Of The Eagles Signing Saquon Barkley
Saquon Barkley is an Eagle. They landed one of the top free agents on the market yesterday. It took a 3-year, $38 million contract, but they landed Saquon. The reaction in Philly was overwhelmingly positive. Which makes sense. Barkley is among the most talented players in the league. He is the best RB they have had since LeSean McCoy. He has been banged up a bit, and running behind the worst O-Line in the league, so his numbers dipped a bit. But no one will argue that Barkley is not an elite talent at RB.
On the other hand, it is paying an RB. Even great RBs have sometimes turned into a disaster once they get a big contract. It is a position that tends to wear down quickly. We have seen more and more teams devalue their position. That is why Saquon Barkley is available to begin with. The Giants did not want to pay him. They didn’t think he was worth it. That does not mean they are right. But it is a belief shared by many in the NFL. We saw Josh Jacobs, Dalvin Cook, among many more RBs not get that big deal with the team that drafted them.
So are they right? Or is Saquon Barkley so good that he is worth bucking that trend? With how good the Eagles’ O-line is, do they even need an elite O-line? Or does having that great O-Line make having a great RB to go with it even more worthwhile?
Read More About the Eagles Moves In Free Agency Here:
Here are some of the Pros and Cons Of the Saquon Barkley Signing:
Pro- Imagine Him Behind This O-Line
Saquon is a great back. But the Giants Line was terrible his entire time there. Most of what he did in New York, he did off his own talent.
That won’t be the case in Philly. Even with no Jason Kelce, the Eagles still have 3 of the best run blockers in the league along their O-Line. Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata were 1 and 2 among Tackles in Run Block Win Rate. Landon Dickerson was 1st among Interior Linemen. As a team, they ranked 1st overall in Run Block Win Rate. Swift often had wide-open holes to run through, and in some games racked up yards before even being touched by a defender.
Meanwhile, Saquon had to run behind perhaps the worst O-Line. They ranked 31st in the Run Block Win rate. It is a huge upgrade for Barkley.
Con- Value Isn't Always There For Big RB Contracts
One of the issues with paying RBs is that the difference between a great back, and a replacement back, is far smaller than at other positions. Take Safety for instance. We saw last year how much bad safeties can hold a team back. The drop-off from CJ Gardner Johnson, who isn’t even a great Safety, to Reed Blankenship, was massive.
A player like Saquon Barkley may be more impactful than someone like Xavier McKinney would be on a game-to-game basis. But the difference between Barkley and let’s say, Gus Edwards, is less drastic than McKinney and an average Safety. The Eagles did not have great RB play the last two seasons, but they still had 1000-yard RBs and were an elite running team. If you put a decent back behind a great O-line, they can produce like a great RB. Barkley is a superior talent to them. But will the difference in production be worth paying a projected $10 million more per season? It could be. He could be so great he makes it worthwhile. But it is a fair question to ask.
So when people say RBs contracts aren’t worth it, they dont mean RBs dont make an impact. It is just that you can get similar production for less money. That is not the case for other needs the Eagles have. You can’t pluck a safety in the 5th round, put him in, and see him be instantly productive. We have seen teams do that with RBs. The Chiefs spent a 7th-round pick on Pacheco, and he became their best back on the way to two straight Super Bowls.
Pro- He Can Be Productive even When The Blocking Doesnt Work
With Swift and Sanders, the Eagles were pretty reliant on the blocking. Not to say those RBS were bad. But they weren’t necessarily making things happen on their own. As already mentioned, Saquon can. He has been doing that his whole career.
As great as the Eagles O-line is, there are drives, and even games, where the blocking scheme just doesn’t work. Or maybe Cam Jurgens or Tyler Steen are struggling that week. Nobody, no team is perfect. We saw games last year where the running game disappeared. Having the type of guy who can run even without perfect blocking, is a plus.
Con- Has Been Injured A Lot In His Career
No player gets tackled more often than an RB. Linemen may take more contact, but they aren’t being tackled to the ground every play. It’s why they tend to wear down quicker than other positions. And that amount of contact, has already taken its toll on Barkley.
Here is his history of injuries since entering the NFL:
2019- High Ankle Sprain- played in only 13 games
2020- Torn ACL- Only played in 2 games
2021- Low Ankle Sprain- played in 13 games
2023- Ankle Sprain- played in 13 games
The ACL was the only major injury. But he has been beaten up. He also has a lot of carries despite those injuries. He was pretty much their entire offense and has nearly 1500 touches between the carries he got and the passes he has caught.
Pro- He Can Block
The Eagles RBs have not done a good job blocking these past two years. When you wonder why Swift was off the field as much as he was, the answer is because he struggled as a pass blocker. But Barkley is one of the best blockers out there among RBs. He allowed only two sacks and 4 Qb hits in 100 pass-blocking snaps. Blocking is the most consistently underrated and under-praised part of an RBs game. But Barkley excels at it.
Con- Will It Keep Them From Improving Elsewhere?
The Eagles have a lot of needs. Safety, Corner, Linebacker. They were never going to invest in a LB. They will get someone, maybe on the cheap, and hope it works. But they missed out on the top tier of Safeties so far. They can still get CJ Gardner Johnson. But they likely need two Safeties.
We won’t know if Barkley prevented them from improving their defense until the final roster is set. But there is a chance his money prevents them from adding elsewhere.
Pro- The Money May Not Be As Much As It Seems
With that said, the money he is getting may not be what it seems. NFL contracts, more than any other league, are complicated. That money could be backloaded, it could be hidden in bonuses. So while the full contract seems like a big number, the cap hit may not be that high. Howie has his issues, but he is a cap wizard. He moves money around with the best of them. I doubt his cap hit is actually $12 to $16 million. At least in year 1.
Also, we saw the NFL cap go up $30 million this year. It will keep going up every season. So what may seem like a big contract now, might not be in year 3 of the deal. It will still be one of the biggest RB contracts because that is the one position that seems to be going down in value as the cap grows. But the gap between him and other top RBs may shrink.
Pat is Philly through and through, having grown up in the Oxford Circle of Northeast Philadelphia. He attended Cardinal Dougherty High School, and it was at CD that a teacher suggested he should pursue a career in sports radio. He worked his way up the ranks and joined the morning show in June of 2020. As a content creator for 97.5 The Fanatic he writes about Eagles, Sixers, Phillies and Flyers. Follow Pat on Twitter @Pat_Egan
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