Saquon Barkley was named the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year at the NFL Honors ceremony on Thursday night in New Orleans. He is the first Eagle to capture the award.
“It’s an honor and privilege to be selected the (Offensive) Player of the Year,” Barkley said in a pre-recorded statement, electing to focus on preparing for Super Bowl LIX instead of attending the event in person. “I’d like to give thanks to God first. Without Him, none of this would be possible.
“I’d like to give thanks to my family, my fiancee, my children, my mom and dad, my brothers and sisters, thank you guys so much for (your) love and support throughout this journey. I’d like to thank the fans of Philadelphia for showing so much love to me and my family, especially being the newcomers.
“And last, but not least, I’d like to thank my teammates and coaches. ‘You can’t be great without the greatness of others,’ one of my favorite quotes, and you definitely can’t accomplish this without the big boys up front. So, thank you guys so much, again, like I said, it’s an honor and a privilege.
In his first year as an Eagle, Barkley became just the ninth player in NFL history to surpass 2,000 rushing yards in a single season, setting the franchise record in the process. His 2,005 rushing yards were the eighth most in a regular season in NFL history.
Barkley also led the league with a franchise-record 2,283 yards from scrimmage, which was a league-high 34.8 percent of the team’s output, while adding 15 total touchdowns.
Named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week four times during the regular season, the first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection set the franchise’s single-game rushing record with 255 against the Los Angeles Rams.
2K SA saved his best for crunch time as he gained 1,245 rushing yards in the second half of games, the most by any NFL player since at least 1991. His second-half rushing yardage total alone would have ranked eighth in the league in total rushing yards.
One of the league’s most explosive players (an NFL-best 46 runs of 10-plus yards), Barkley authored one of the most athletic plays ever with the reverse hurdle in the win over the Jaguars.
The AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award is based on regular-season performance only, but his postseason numbers are well worth a mention.
With 30 rushing yards in the Super Bowl on Sunday, Barkley (currently at 2,447) will surpass Terrell Davis for the most in a single season, including playoffs. Barkley is just the second player in NFL history (Davis) with at least 400 rushing yards and five touchdowns in a single postseason.
Three of those touchdowns have been on rushing plays of 60 or more yards, setting an NFL ALL-TIME playoff record. Yes, Barkley has done in one postseason what no other player in league history has done in a career.
Here’s what some of the Eagles had to say this week about Barkley’s incredible season:
Said A.J. Brown, who called Barkley the “best (football player) in the world”:
“He’s unbelievable. He continues to get better. He continues to show up. Just to see those and he continues to surprise me like he’s surprised everybody else. I didn’t know he could do that. He continues to get better,” Brown said. “He’s an incredible leader. He means a lot to this team, a lot to our teammates. He’s extremely funny, too. He brightens up the room when he comes in.”
Said Dallas Goedert:
“Saquon’s been incredible ever since we signed him. As great as a football player he is, he’s an even better person. It feels like I’ve been playing my entire career with him, just because that’s how close he is, how close of a teammate he is, and then what he does on the field, it’s nice to see it on this side rather than when I was on the other side when I was playing against him twice a year,” Goedert said.
When asked for his favorite Barkley moment (so far) of the season:
“It would probably be the Packers game in Brazil when he had three touchdowns,” Goedert said. “It was just kind of the start of everything. It was cool to see that firsthand and just the amount that he’s done this year, that was the start of it. That was pretty cool.”
Add DeVonta Smith who wouldn’t count the reverse hurdle as his favorite Barkley moment:
“I wouldn’t even say during the season. During the stadium practice during Training Camp, I saw him take a short pass and he outran everybody,” Smith said. “I was like, ‘Man, this dawg is going to be a problem.’ That was my moment right there.”
Landon Dickerson explains why the O-line loves blocking for him:
“He’s just a great dude on and off the field,” Dickerson said. “Whenever you’re just sitting, if you’re having lunch, sitting on a couch, talking all the time, just hanging out. He’s just a really good person and a fun dude. He connects really well with people. Got a great personality. When you’re building chemistry like that with a guy, it’s not just a co-worker. He becomes part of the family.”
Dickerson’s most memorable moment from Saquon also doesn’t involve jumping in the air:
“The most memorable one, because it’s the most recent, would have been the Snow Game (Divisional Round win over the Rams). He had the long one at the end of the game when it was snowing pretty good and took off downfield,” Dickerson said. “He’s had a lot of those that I remember throughout the year, but that one most recently, just because it was also my first snow game.”
The head coach also chimes in:
“Yeah, it’s very obvious when you watch the tape how good of a player he is, right. But the things that he has that he brings to our football team as far as his leadership, his work ethic. He’s an awesome teammate. Those are the things that make him very special,” Head Coach Nick Sirianni said.
“And that’s pretty special that I’m saying that even more after you see him jumping over guys backwards and all that stuff.”
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