Well, that escalated quickly. Saquon Barkley took his talents to the City of Brotherly Love, and a Lombardi trophy followed. All he did was run for over 2,000 yards and scored 15 times in 16 games while somehow leaving gas in the tank to touch the ball 104 times during the Super Bowl run.
Barkley doesn’t have to get better – if he can repeat his 2024 production, fantasy football managers would take it in a heartbeat.
Can he?
Saquon Barkley’s Fantasy Outlook
As you’re well aware, not a single number that Barkley produced last season is going to help you this season. That isn’t ground-breaking analysis, but it’s easy to fall in love with a sports car and not look under the hood to see if it’s actually a good purchase.
Sometimes, it’s all flash and no substance. The brakes are shot, the gas mileage is underwhelming, and./or 100 other similar examples that make sense to car people – I’m a fake sports analyst, not a mechanic, what do you want from me?
Other times, it’s Saquon Barkley.
He averaged 62.5% more red zone touches per game last season than he did during his career with the New York Giants, while setting new career marks in both rush gain rate (82.9%) and 10+ yard rush gain rate (13.4%).
When Saquon Barkley put the entire USC defense on skates ⛸ pic.twitter.com/UKjWn08PWp
— Football’s Greatest Moments (@FBGreatMoments) July 9, 2025
The deeper you dive, the more sold you get. This time last year, whispers circulated about his usage rate in scoring position and why that made him an iffy investment at cost. Even if Jalen Hurts is doing his thing, Barkley averaged 1.7 touches inside the 10-yard line per game, far from a negative after getting under one attempt per game in his final three seasons with the G-Men.
In essence, the good was better than we thought about his changing of NFC East jerseys, and none of our worries were nearly as impactful as feared. He’s now averaged at least 20 touches in five of his six healthy seasons and showed nothing but a full-tank down the stretch of 2024 – 25+ carries in three of four playoff games (the exception benign the 32-point win over the Commanders in the NFC Title game (the end zone got in the way on three of his 15 carries, otherwise the drives are longer and the volume.
- Volume, check.
- Viable in close, check.
- Versatile, check.
Oh, did I mention that he scored 62.9 fantasy points on gains of 55+ yards? No big deal, that was just 8.8 more points than Jonathan Taylor and Derrick Henry (RBs 2-3 in that metric) combined.
MORE: Free Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
If you don’t want to spend your first pick on a running back, I get it. Shelf life, injuries, committees, blah blah blah.
There’s a top tier at the position that is three players wide, and I think it’s essentially impossible to reach any of them. That’s not to say that going with a “safer” receiver in the first round is a bad idea – I’d just caution against blindly fading a ball carrier or penciling in extreme regression for an elite season.
Cameron Sheath’s Saquon Barkley Projection
If fantasy football managers needed a lesson in not overthinking things, Saquon Barkley provided it in 2024. The former New York Giant ran for over 2000 yards and was the clear RB1 in fantasy. After the player’s move to the Eagles, there was concern about his touchdown potential, with Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts known for handling goal-line work. Barkley was being drafted as the RB4, barely making it into the first round of drafts.
Regardless of the “tush-push,” Barkley tallied a career-high 13 rushing touchdowns, adding two more through the air, on his way to the Offensive Player of the Year award. This year, there are concerns about Barkley’s workload in 2024 (345 carries, most in the NFL) and the toll it may have taken on his body.
The Chiefs sold out to stop the run in February’s Super Bowl, limiting Barkley to his lowest average yards per attempt of the year (2.3) and there are also fears that more teams will do that in 2025. There was enough warning about Barkley before the playoffs last year, though, and it made no difference at all.
Barkley tallied 442 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns in the Eagles’ three playoff games before the Super Bowl, including 205 yards and two scores against the Rams. Barkley’s efficiency was still there at the end of the year, while he proved almost unstoppable despite the best efforts of opposing defenses. The Eagles star is still the best back in football, behind the best offensive line in football. Don’t overthink it.
