On February 9th 2025, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in a 40-22 blowout. While many were surprised at this outcome, the Eagles were favorites all season long.
Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles made the playoffs, but lost in the wild card round by a large margin. Their running back, D’Andre Swift,ran for 1049 yards on 229 carries. The team ran for a total of 2190 yards, reaching 8th in the league. These statistics are very good, but the team decided to not re-sign Swift and let him become a free agent. What we did not know is that the Eagles front office had their eyes on a different running back.
On March 13 2024, former New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley signed a three $38 million deal to go to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. This shocked the entire NFL free agent market. Not only was this move unprecedented, but it was also a low amount of money compared to what many speculated as his true value. Many experts were saying Barkley would thrive in the Eagles organization, and they turned out to be correct.
The Philadelphia Eagles instantly became the #2 team in terms of rushing yards and touchdowns. Barkley ran for 2005 yards, putting him as #8 all time for one season and only the 9th player to ever reach 2000 yards on the ground. The 27 year old also scored 13 touchdowns. This historic season awarded him NFL Offensive Player of the Year and saw him finishing 3rd in MVP voting. “Barkely is easily one of the best players in the league right now” said William Sherman, a football fan from Nyack. “In five years, he will easily be a first ballot Hall of Famer.”
In the playoffs, Barkley showed his true talents. In just 4 games, he ran for 500 yards and 5 touchdowns, three of them coming in the NFC Championship Game. This insane stat line propelled the Eagles into their momentous victory, and now Barkley has a Super Bowl win on top of his already strong resume.
One of the biggest takeaways from this NFL season was the importance of strong running games. The Philadelphia Eagles and Saquon Barkley were the prime examples of this, and everyone saw the impact and importance of having an elite player carrying the ball.