Saquon Barkley is already looking like the missing piece for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The new Eagles running back Barkley wasted absolutely no time during Friday’s season opener against the Green Bay Packers in Brazil. He opened up the scoring for Philly with an 18-yard touchdown reception from Jalen Hurts in the second quarter. Barkley then followed that up with an 11-yard touchdown run later on in the same quarter.
HURTS TO SAQUON FOR THE @EAGLES FIRST TD!
: #GBvsPHI on Peacock pic.twitter.com/WeEql9w1Ed
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024
SAQUON BARKLEY AGAIN.
: #GBvsPHI on Peacock pic.twitter.com/ooiRMZQYRy
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024
Amid Barkley’s monster first half, a hard-to-believe fact went viral on social media. Field Yates of ESPN revealed that Barkley, with his early receiving touchdown, has already tied the mark for most receiving TDs by an Eagles running back during the entire Hurts era.
Saquon Barkley now has as many receiving touchdowns (1) as any Eagles RB has had in an entire season since Jalen Hurts was drafted in 2020.
He adds such a difference-making element to the offense.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 7, 2024
Admittedly, that mind-numbing fact might be more so a function of the Eagles’ schemes as well as their talented cast of pass-catchers (featuring AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, plus others). But Barkley’s dual-threat talent is undeniable, and Philly now has the luxury of utilizing his pass-catching ability out of the backfield as well.
Health may ultimately be the biggest obstacle for the multi-time Pro Bowler Barkley, who has only been able to play in a modest 74 of 99 career games (74.7 percent) entering this season. But Barkley was already looking like a seamless fit in Philadelphia during the offseason, and his numbers during Friday’s season opener continued on that trend as well.
