PHILADELPHIA – Saquon Barkley arrived at his old high school field in Lehigh County, Pa., with a pair of slippers on his feet, golf clubs in his trunk, and the type of levity that comes only from deliverance. The Philadelphia Eagles’ newly signed running back, hosting a youth camp at the Whitehall High School stadium in July, would quickly render his footwear inadequate, instead darting around in his socks before emptying his pockets and shedding his shirt to join the “skins” team of campers during a game of ultimate football.
The midafternoon tee time at a nearby course he planned with a few former coaches didn’t stand a chance. The camp ran long, and that was before Barkley fielded questions and signed autographs engulfed in a crowd of Whitehall students, who proved unafraid to ask the 27-year-old the type of question he has been getting for months now. Were you upset with how things ended with the Giants? Barkley has certainly had enough practice answering those curious about the ending of a turbulent few years of unsuccessful contract negotiations with the New York Giants. He has been one of the league’s most productive at his position since getting drafted No. 2 overall out of Penn State in 2018, but he has also become one of the players most affected by the league’s shift away from giving big deals to running backs, especially those who have taken on the workload that Barkley has.
His answer, given while seated on the turf of Zephyr Stadium, resembled the one he has given countless times: The NFL is a business and he’s grateful both for the Giants and to be with the Eagles. What he doesn’t say is what’s apparent to those around him, though. Something he’ll even acknowledge himself in the right context: Signing with the Eagles has brought on a sense of relief to end a chapter defined by adversity in New York, a chapter that is now fueling the second act of his career. “From dealing with the ACL,” Barkley said. “Getting over that, getting mentally prepared for that and coming back and then stepping on someone’s foot and having a high ankle sprain, I had to reinvent myself. I had to go out there with a killer mindset and prove to everyone that I’m still that guy and I’m back. To go out there and do that, help lead the Giants to the playoffs, and then you think you’re getting a deal for everything you did and instead you get tagged.”
