Saquon Barkley saw a clip of Barry Sanders on NFL Films when he was a kid that left a lasting impression.
It wasn鈥檛 Sanders juking half the defense on one of his dynamic touchdown runs. Instead, the Hall of Fame running back who inspired a generation of running backs with his sensational, elusive, shifty style was walking up and down the sideline handing out refreshments to his teammates.
鈥淭hey were talking about how great of a player he was but they had a clip of him holding Gatorade cups and he鈥檚 walking down,鈥� Barkley said on the podcast. 鈥淗e is going to his teammates and just the way that he carried himself. So I would say I have to give my flowers to him there.鈥�
Barkley joined Sanders as one of nine players to rush for 2,000 yards in a season in 2024 when he was the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year and helped the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl.
Barkley demonstrated he鈥檚 a team-first player by sitting out the final regular-season game when he needed 101 yards to break Eric Dickerson鈥檚 record. Earlier in the season, he told coach Nick Sirianni to let other backs get some carries after he had already rushed for 176 yards against his former Giants teammates and needed 14 more in the fourth quarter to set a new career-high.
Barkley finished with an NFL-record 2,504 combined rushing yards in the regular season and playoffs.
He credits his parents, Alibay Barkley and Tonya Johnson, for instilling in him an unselfish mindset.
鈥淛ust how my parents raised me,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verything, who I am a person, it stems from my family, my brothers and sisters, and the coaches that I had growing up. But I don鈥檛 think you should get flowers for being a great teammate. I don鈥檛 think anything that I鈥檝e done or that I said is rare. At least it shouldn鈥檛 be rare. It should be the norm, and it is the norm. I might have just got caught on camera, or I might’ve had an article written about me, but there鈥檚 other stuff that I have done that鈥檚 behind the scenes, and I have multiple teammates that have done great things for me, too. And it鈥檚 a winning culture. You want to create that culture. If you want to win football games, you want to be competing for championships, that matters. And I bought into that at a very young age and I think that鈥檚 what, I guess you could say, separated me.鈥�
Barkley鈥檚 first season in Philadelphia after playing his first six with the New York Giants couldn鈥檛 have been scripted any better. He followed up his All-Pro campaign with 1,140 yards rushing in 2025 behind a banged-up offensive line.
The Eagles won 11 games, captured their second straight division title but lost a wild-card game to San Francisco. An inconsistent offense cost offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo his job.
Championship parades are the new standard in Philadelphia.
Some athletes don鈥檛 want to play in a pressure-packed environment. Barkley loves it.
鈥淚 embrace it. I don鈥檛 think pressure is a real thing from the outside force,鈥� Barkley said. 鈥淵ou have to hold yourself to a high standard. I know Philly holds us to a higher standard already, but I feel like the way I carry myself and how I train and the standard I hold myself, I fit right into the city and into this fan base. … You want to win every year. That鈥檚 the goal.鈥�
Barkley鈥檚 acrobatic over a Jaguars player during the 2024 season ended up being the Madden 2026 cover. It also inspired DIRECTV鈥檚 recent campaign featuring Barkley , flipping over a utility cart and hopping onto a crossbar.
鈥淲atching football shouldn鈥檛 feel like jumping through hoops. That鈥檚 why I have DIRECTV,鈥� Barkley says in the television commercial.
Of course, he lauded the brand鈥檚 team spirit.
鈥淭he kind of culture that they have and the day I was able to spend with them, I was knocked away and I鈥檓 just thankful for the opportunity,鈥� he said.
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