Saquon Barkley has heard the noise surrounding 30-year-old running backs and wants to hear none of it.
“That’s [BS],” Barkley told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Marcus Allen played until he was 36, 37 years old. Some of the greats that I admire and I look up and study, they played well into their 30s. Barry (Sanders) left at 29, 30 and he left in his prime. It’s what you put in, what you put in is what you get out. That’s any position. There’s this weird thing with running backs right now. Is it a difficult position to play? Yes. Do you take wear and tear? Yes. But who are you or anyone else to tell me how long I can play the game? I call [BS].
“When it’s over for me, it’s over for me. But I feel like if I continue to put the right stuff in my body and do the right things, there will be a day when I’m 32 or 33, and I want to hang it up, and I’m going to do it just because.”
The ex-Giants rusher, who signed a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the Eagles, is going on his age 27 season and will turn 28 just before the Super Bowl should he help his new team get there.
Barkley’s deal with Philly comes with $26 million guaranteed and incentives that could push it up to $46.75 million.
Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft, has been a productive rusher when healthy, though he’s been plagued by injuries, including a torn ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season.
In the “Hard Knocks” offseason show, Giants GM Joe Schoen was shown telling former NFL great Frank Gore that running backs decline after age 27.
The Giants were unwilling to match the price their rival paid for Barkley.
“I’ve been trying to control everything,” Barkley told Philadelphia outlet. “Like, ‘I have to do this so I won’t get hurt.’ I can’t control that. My three or four injuries I’ve had in the NFL are flukes. There was nothing I could do to change them. But that’s what it is — everything I want to be and all the potential people talk about; when I’m on the field, I’m that and more.”
Philadelphia opens the season on Sept. 6 at home against the Packers.