We Should Have Seen Saquon Coming
- H
- Jan 2
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 7
Saquon Barkley took us all by surprise this season. I liked drafting in the top-5 this year so I could select a consensus top-3 running backs: Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson, or Breece Hall. Who knew that my RB4, Saquon, would outshine them all.
In six years with the Giants, Saquon had his ups and downs. In his rookie season, he was incredible, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year with over 2000 scrimmage yards and 15 total touchdowns. After that, injuries like a high ankle sprain in 2019 and a torn ACL in 2020 impacted his performance, but even then, Saquon was always viewed as one of the most talented runners in the game.
Now, imagine taking one of the most talented players in the game, in his prime, and dropping him into one of the best possible spots for an RB. The Eagles' offensive environment was one of the best before Saquon arrived. Jalen Hurts has his flaws but already has a strong body of work with the Eagles, taking them to Super Bowl LVII. AJ Brown is one of the premier WRs in the game, and Devonta Smith would arguably be the WR1 on many other teams. Talented running backs in great offensive environments tend to thrive.
Consider the RB talent the Eagles had the previous season – D’Andre Swift rushed for over 1000 yards after a high of only 617 in three previous years with the Lions. Even mediocre talents like Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell performed competently when called upon. Part of this has to do with the Eagles having one of the best offensive lines, one that Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranked 2nd overall going into this season.[1] Take the likes of Swift, Scott, and Gainwell, and replace them with Saquon Barkley, and what you get is the RB1 overall.
Another worry was that Saquon’s upside would be limited by Hurts taking all of the goal-line carries. And to some extent, this has come true. Imagine how we'd be looking at Saquon’s fantasy season if he had the dozen-or-so more rushing touchdowns Hurts vultured. But if Saquon's proven anything, it's that not every rushing TD is scored from the 1-yard line.
Next season has a poor free agent RB class, so we may not get the chance to take advantage of this again. But conventional thinking of fading veteran RBs on new teams, considering the successes of Barkley, Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, and Josh Jacobs, can probably be put to bed.
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