Saquon Barkley #26 of the Philadelphia Eagles runs with the ball against Kaden Elliss #55 of the Atlanta Falcons during the third quarter in the game at Lincoln Financial Field on September 16, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Saquon Barkley hurt Rams and Giants: The Eagles running back rushed for a career high 255 yards in the Eagles 37-20 road win over Rams on Sunday night football. He also had 302 yards from scrimmage which made him the 12th player in NFL history to do so. Sunday night he also became the first player in 15 years with two touchdown runs of 70 or more yards in a game. He currently leads the NFL with a career high 1392 yards rushing with 6 more games to go.
We could go on and on discussing the great things Barkley is doing. But he is clearly in the MVP conversation. And it has been a while since we have discussed a running back and MVP in the same sentence. That is because the NFL has disregarded the importance of the running back position in a pass-happy league. Salaries for running backs are way down compared to quarterbacks and wide receivers. The financial part has become so dire that running backs have discussed forming their own sub-players union.
SAQUON BARKLEY HURT RAMS AND GIANTS
Saquon Barkley hurt Rams and Giants: That leads us to our next point. Barkley played six years with the New York Giants. He loved being a Giant and said he wanted to play his entire career there. But they fought him tooth and nail for every penny when contract issues came up. They underpaid him. They took him for granted. And they were stupidly stunned when his agent called and said they were leaving for a better offer with another team - in their division! The Giants loss was the Eagles gain.
To make matters worse, this was a bad week for the Giants and their fans. Back when the team was squabbling with Saquon over money, they decided to pay their mediocre quarterback Daniel Jones $40 million dollars a year instead. The same quarterback they cut this week. Then Sunday Giants fans sat in the cold and watched their team get destroyed by the Buccaneers, only to get home in time to watch their former running back have a record night on national TV on Sunday Night Football!
Karma can be tough. For more NFL talk and analysis tune in each weekday to Craig Shemon and Company on ESPN Southwest Florida from 2-6pm.
