Saquon Barkley has heard all the fuss surrounding the 30-year-old running back, and he doesn’t want to hear any of it.
“it is [BS]Berkeley said: Philadelphia Inquirer“Marcus Allen played until he was 36, 37. Some of the great players that I look up to and study played into their 30s. Barry (Sanders) left at the peak of his career, at 29, 30. It’s about how much work you put in. It’s the same at any position. There’s something weird about running back right now. Is it a hard position to play? Yes. Is it attritional? Yes. But who are you or anybody else to say how long I can play? I don’t think so.” [BS].
“For me, when it’s over, that’s it. But if I keep putting the right things into my body and doing the right things, I think one day I’ll be 32 or 33 and want to retire, and I’m just going to do that.”
The former Giants rusher signed a three-year, $37.75 million contract with the Eagles and is in his age-27 season, meaning he will turn 28 just before the Super Bowl if he helps his new team reach it.
Barkley’s contract with Philadelphia includes $26 million guaranteed and incentives that could raise it to $46.75 million.
Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft, is a productive rusher when healthy but has been plagued by injuries, including a torn ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season.
On the offseason show “Hard Knocks,” Giants general manager Joe Sean was heard telling former NFL standout Frank Gore that running backs start to decline after turning 27.
The Giants were not willing to pay anything close to what their rivals paid for Barkley.
“I try to control everything,” Barkley told the Philadelphia media. “Like, ‘I have to do this so I don’t get hurt,’ but you can’t control that. The three or four injuries I had in the NFL were just coincidences. There was nothing I could do to change that. But that’s the reality. Everything I want to be, everything people talk about my potential. When I step on the field, I’m so much more than that.”
Philadelphia opens the season at home against the Packers on Sept. 6.
