Saquon: “I want to be the best of all time” Originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
Saquon Barkley dreams big. Really big.
“I want to be the best of all time,” Barkley said after Sunday’s practice.
And maybe now I’m in a place where I can pursue those kinds of dreams.
It’s not easy to be the best of all time when you play for a team that never wins and doesn’t have good players.
By leaving the Giants and signing with the Eagles, Barkley goes from a team with 4He-worst record and one playoff win since he was a rookie in 2018 for a team that has been to the playoffs five of the last six years and has reached two Super Bowls in the last seven years.
He leaves a team that has had three offensive Pro Bowlers since 2018 to a team that has had 21.
“I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but the video speaks for itself,” Barkley said. “I’m just trying to improve on that. Trying to expand my game. I feel like I’ve done a lot of great things in this league, even battling through injuries, I feel like I made a name for myself and I feel like in this offense and with the guys I have around me, I’ll continue to be able to do that.”
The Giants went 34-64-1 in Barkley’s six years, and only three teams won fewer games from 2018-23 (the Jaguars, Jets and Panthers). Barkley has had a total of one offensive teammate make the Pro Bowl since 2019, tight end Evan Engram in 2020.
Now, for the first time since his rookie year, when he played alongside Odell Beckham Jr., Barkley is in an offense where opposing defenses have other people to worry about.
And it will be fun to see what Barkley is capable of in an offense featuring AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert and Jalen Hurts and behind an elite offensive line.
“I just want to be great, man, that’s all,” Barkley said. “I just want to get to the highest level I can, and that’s my goal. Will (Shipley) asked me the other day, ‘What motivates you?’ That’s the same answer I gave him. That’s where I want to be. That’s where I want to go. I’m not going to stop, I’m going to keep trying.”
“And sometimes the reality is that a lot of people don’t reach their full potential, but at the end of the day I know that if I put in all my effort and I don’t reach it when it’s all said and done, I can still be happy.”
Despite missing most of the 2020 season and 25 total games since he was a rookie, Barkley has 5,211 rushing yards, 288 receptions, 7,311 scrimmage yards and 47 touchdowns in 74 career games.
He is one of only seven running backs with 5,000 rushing yards, 275 receptions and 45 touchdowns in his first 74 games. The others are Chuck Foreman, Marcus Allen, Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, LaDainian Tomlinson and Le’Veon Bell.
To be in the conversation as one of the best of all time, Barkley will have to stay healthy and put together several fantastic seasons.
Barkley knows this. He’s something of a running back historian. He grew up watching Hall of Famers like Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders and Walter Payton and has also studied more recent players like Marshall Faulk, LaDanian Tomlinson and his contemporary, Christian McCaffrey.
He thinks Payton is the greatest of all time: “Complete, tough, great pass protector, between the tackles, on the outside, you have to pick Walter.”
Among active running backs, Barkley’s 7,311 scrimmage yards are 4He-the most by a player before his 27th birthdayHe birthday, behind Ezekiel Elliott, who also played in the offense of Kellen Moore, McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara.
“I’ve never been inspired by anybody,” he said. “I always try to watch as much as I can. I’ve watched all the great backs my dad told me about, whether it was Barry or Walter. The other day I was watching Todd Gurley, I was watching Zeke, obviously Zeke had been in their offense before. LaDanian Thompson, Marshall Faulk, I just try to watch all those guys.
“I feel like God has blessed me with incredible talent for my size… I can move like a little guy, I can run like a big guy. So I try to put all that in my tool belt.”
“It’s kind of hard to say (who the greatest of all time is), so in my mind, that comes out every day, trying to be the best version of myself, having that Mamba mentality, trying hard every day, going out there and trying to win games, competing at the highest level, winning championships and when it’s all said and done, when I look back, hopefully, you guys will decide and mention me in that category.”
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