Did Howie Roseman’s Saquon Barkley Signing Change the Running Back Market?
The Philadelphia Eagles have the best non-QB in football. He was not acquired with a first-overall draft pick nor through trade.
He was a free agent.
If Saquon Barkley can get 30 rushing yards in the Super Bowl, he’ll break Terrell Davis’ full-season record of 2,476.
A man on a mission, Barkley has been the Eagles’ MVP. Period.
An Eagles victory on Feb. 9 will cement general manager (GM) Howie Roseman’s free-agency gamble on Barkley as one of the best contracts in NFL history. But the other 31 GMs across the league have already seen enough—Philadelphia got a generational steal.
The million-dollar question is, will they act on it?
Running Backs Are for Contenders, Not Pretenders
PHOTO: Philadelphia Eagles/Twitter/X
One thing that must be made clear is that running backs can make good teams much better—ironically, the same cannot be said about bad ones.
I mean, we can take Barkley himself. Out of the six seasons he spent with the New York Giants, he made the playoffs once. The Giants won 34 out of 99 total games—only their MetLife stadium brethren, the New York Jets, were worse in that span.
How did Barkley turn a team that stumbled backward into the playoffs and got embarrassed in the wildcard into a juggernaut? Simple; he left a perennial bottom-feeder and joined the NFC representative in Super Bowl LVII.
The Eagles’ defense going from one of the worst to the best in the sport is a major reason for their success. But they don’t get past the Los Angeles Rams two weeks ago without his efforts. They might not have had home-field advantage throughout their three-game journey to New Orleans, either—he turned the tide of a few games in the regular season.
This is more or less the formula that the San Francisco 49ers followed. The lowly Carolina Panthers weren’t taking advantage of Christian McCaffrey’s prime years, so the 49ers traded for him, then went to the NFC Championship in 2022 and the Super Bowl in 2023. It’s not like they sacrificed much—it didn’t even cost them a first-round pick. Trey Lance cost them three of those, by the way.
With the last two NFC Champions being aggressive on the running back market, others may follow suit.
Look Out for the Commanders
One team I have circled here is the Washington Commanders. An offense led by Jayden Daniels, a 24-year-old rookie, shocked the world and was one of the best in the NFL. They played disciplined and moved the ball with scary efficiency. Avoiding turnovers was their specialty—that strength departing is why the Eagles demolished them last Sunday.
Although the duo of Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler was pretty good, it wasn’t Barkley good. That’s where they may splurge. That’s how they could reach the next level.
There isn’t a running back of this caliber readily on the market, but the point stands—Washington’s offense could go from elite to unstoppable with a Barkley-esque addition. Even as a rookie, Daniels was one of the best quarterbacks in football—the Commanders’ passing game doesn’t have much more upside than it showed throughout the 2024 campaign because it was already one of the most lethal in the NFL.
The running game may differ in that department—look out for the Commanders.
Roseman’s signing of Barkley, in particular, maybe the best move he’s ever made—he won a Super Bowl once, by the way.
Will other contenders play copycat?
PHOTO: Philadelphia Eagles/Twitter/X
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