National Football League

Saquon Barkley's departure from Giants to Eagles is the right move for all parties

Published Mar. 11, 2024 4:20 p.m. ET

This one is going to hurt in New York, there's no doubt about it. Saquon Barkley wasn't just one of the Giants' best players, he was by far their most popular. And he really did seem to want to be a Giant for life.

It's never a great sign when a player like that wants to stay but his team refuses to pay him what he's worth. But the truth about Barkley's defection from the New York Giants to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday afternoon isn't that simple. The move made perfect sense for everybody involved.

Barkley got the deal he was seeking. The Eagles got a player who might make them the favorites in the NFC once again. And the Giants now have the salary cap flexibility to build their roster with positions that, for them, are more important.

In other words, paying Barkley makes way more sense for the Eagles than it ever would have for the Giants.

That won't ease the pain of his jilted fans in New York, but it is the reality of the situation after the 27-year-old Barkley agreed to terms on a three-year, $37.75 million contract with the Eagles that included $26 million in guaranteed money, according to an NFL source. It's the biggest splash Eagles GM Howie Roseman has ever made at the NFL's most devalued position, and it left the Giants with a huge hole that they will undoubtedly struggle to fill.

Barkley could transform an already-loaded Eagles offense. With the addition of him and former Jets pass-rush specialist Bryce Huff, they might already be the favorites to reach Super Bowl LIX. As long as Barkley stays healthy — always a big "if" with him — he could be as big a weapon in the passing game as he is in the running game.

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Playing behind the best offensive line he's ever had — a polar opposite of the Swiss-cheese wall he ran behind in six seasons with the Giants — he could be a threat to run for 1,500 yards.

That made him worth whatever risk the Eagles might take with his health and the cap space they devoted to him. For the Giants, though, Barkley was a luxury they couldn't afford. Their roster is full o fholes. They need at least two offensive linemen, a top receiver, a tight end, cornerbacks, maybe a safety and help with their pass rush. Given all that, the importance of the running back position is way down the list.

And while it's true that Barkley is more of a "weapon" than a running back — much like Christian McCaffrey is in San Francisco — he's not a weapon the Giants are capable of using the right way. Not right now. For one thing, it's like multiple Giants coaches have simply forgotten that Barkley had 91 catches for 721 yards as a rookie. He hasn't come close to that production since (he had just 41 catches for 280 yards last season).

RB Saquon Barkley inks three-year, $37.75M deal with the Eagles

He was also wasted, quite frankly, behind a decrepit offensive line — one that was ranked in the bottom three in the NFL by Pro Football Focus in each of the last four years. According to Next Gen stats, he gained 64 yards over expected on rushes between the tackles last season — fifth-most in the NFL despite missing three games. Imagine what he could do if there ever actually was room to run between the tackles. He often took a pounding in the Giants backfield, long before he hit the line of scrimmage.

And with no viable weapons around him for most of his Giants career, teams could focus on him — stacking the line and devising their defensive scheme around him. It's honestly a miracle he was ever as successful as he was in New York.

It would have made no sense for the Giants to overpay to bring him back and put him in the same messy situation. A running back won't help them win if they don't have a strong offensive line and a dangerous passing game. Barkley's last six years in New York provided more than enough proof of that.

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But he will surely help in Philadelphia. Remember how good Barkley was in 2022, when he ran for a career-high 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns? That was the year quarterback Daniel Jones proved he was a weapon too, running for 472 yards on his own and doing just enough in the passing game (3,205 passing yards, 15 touchdowns). With the Giants running a run-pass option and play-action game, defenses couldn't figure out whether to focus on the backfield or defend the pass.

Now imagine what Barkley might be able to do with Jalen Hurts at quarterback, and with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert drawing attention from the back seven of every defense they face. It'll be like a whole new world will open up for Barkley, as long as he is able to stay on the field.

Yes, that's a risk — the biggest risk with him given his history of ankle, shoulder and knee injuries. But like the risk the 49ers took with McCaffrey, it's one worth taking for an elite player who can push a team over the top. From the Eagles' perspective, the upside is a trip to the Super Bowl. The downside is they're still a pretty good team either way.

For the Giants, the risk was bigger and the payoff wasn't as great. From their view, they are a broken team that couldn't justify paying an injury-prone running back coming off a 962-yard season. They can find a running back who can get them 74 rushing yards per game for a heck of a lot less on a generally depressed running back market, leaving them more cap space to spend on the things they really need to build a winning team again.

All of that made this a no-brainer for Barkley. The Giants made their position clear a year ago — they weren't going to pay him as much as he wanted when they offered him a deal that included $23 million in guaranteed money — a deal he rejected before settling for the $10.1 million franchise tag. And that was before Barkley's down and disappointing season. According to a team source, that deal wasn't on the table anymore.

So Barkley bolted for greener pastures in every sense of that cliché. He got his "fair" deal and landed in a place where he has the support to prove to everyone what his value is — as long as he stays health. He can show he's one of the NFL's most dangerous offensive weapons, a two-way force in the running and passing games, and a player capable of shining in big games — very likely bigger games than he's ever played in before.

That wasn't going to happen in New York. The Giants aren't ready for a player like Barkley. They knew his value. They knew what he meant to the locker room. They knew how popular he was with the fans. And it might be impossible to find anyone in their entire organization who wouldn't have welcomed him back.

But it was still a risk the Giants couldn't afford to take, even though they knew their inaction might be a gift to their division rivals. And that created an opportunity the Eagles would have been foolish to let pass them by.

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Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.