Giants Legend Makes Bold Prediction for Saquon Barkley’s First Season with Eagles

While the New York Giants organization and former running back Saquon Barkley have appeared to move on from each other in the near six months since the latter’s departure for the Philadelphia Eagles, the separation has still been a tough pill to swallow for many Big Blue fans, and more notably Giants legend turned radio personality Tiki Barber. 

Barber, who is now a co-host on WFAN 660 AM in New York, was one of the first voices to publicly criticize Barkley’s decision to skip town for the Giants’ bitter NFC East division rival. Despite being a former player who understands the business side of the sport, he thought it was distasteful for the two-time Pro Bowl running back to select the Eagles as his newest home after six seasons as New York’s top offensive weapon. 

Not too long ago, Barber entered into a social media feud with Barkley over comments made on the airwaves about the ball carrier being “dead to us” as it related to the perception from the fanbase on signing with the birds on a three-year contract. The two Giants greats went back and forth for a while, but it now appears the relationship has been mended and Barber is singing a new tune of “greatness” for the Eagles’ new hometown product. 

Moreover, he is predicting a couple unreal performances when Barkley crosses paths with his former team during the 2024 season. 

“He’s going to be great,” Barber said in a recent interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

“That’s why we hate it. If he were washed up, we wouldn’t care. He’s still in his prime, and he’s going to rush for 1,500 yards, and probably 400 of those will come against us.”

A performance of that magnitude might seem a little excessive for Barkley when you consider a guy who has never crossed that rushing threshold in his NFL career and is dealing with an early injury that joins his previous ACL and ankle ailments suffered during his tenure with the Giants. Yet, when you look at the tools he is set to have around him in Philadelphia, it’s possible the former rookie of the year sensation erupts for a performance that has been buried beneath the dirt of a woeful offensive operation in East Rutherford. 

While in the Big Apple, Barkley had to fight through year after year of mediocre blocking by his starting offensive line, which only worsened as injuries destroyed the front seven each season. Last fall, the Giants finished with the second worst unit in football holding a run block win rate of just 68% per ESPN metrics, and boasted no offensive linemen near the top-20 in the league for that same category. 

It didn’t help that Barkley was the main horse of an offense that couldn’t get much production from the other players in the huddle. The Giants down to their quarterback and with ineffectiveness in the passing game, opposing teams often keyed on Barkley in their gameplans and made that element of the game laborious for him, resulting in a dismal 962 yard and six touchdown season in 2023 that also marked the second lowest yards per carry average in his last five seasons. 

Still, the running back found a way to stack three seasons of 1,000 yards rushing and a combined 27 touchdowns on the ground behind his dismal protection and now will finally receive the beef he deserves up front with the impressive crew on the Eagles. 

The team might have lost their future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce to retirement, but will now stand Barkley behind a lineup that does not feature a linemen below 6-foot-3 in stature and 365 pounds in weight. Philadelphia boasted multiple names in the top-10 run blockers for both the interior and offensive tackle positions last season, each holding their blocks for 2.5 second or longer 75 percent of the time or greater to contribute to an NFL best 77 percent team efficiency. 

In the preseason alone, they ranked 13th in PFF’s standings for blocking efficiency which was tied with Atlanta and Denver which means they also have some excellent depth that will come into play if injuries happen. Pair that with Barkley’s prowess for bull rushing and finding small gaps that could turn it into homerun shots in open space, and the Eagles have themselves a dangerous weapon who can now operate at an optimal level that wasn’t consistently there with the Giants. 

Barber can foresee this positive future better than anyone at this stage due to his knowledge of the game as a fellow running back. He knows greener pastures are awaiting Barkley and might even decide to root quietly for his first stint in green to reclaim that prime status that was teased two years ago when the public was counting him out. 

But don’t think that the legacy Giant will let his blue blood and hatred for the opposing franchise fade when the birds clash with their divisional foe two times in the next few months.

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