Saquon Barkley: Everyone I trust told me to take it easier this offseason
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley never took it easy during the 2024 season, but his approach to this offseason was different.
Barkley was named the offensive player of the year for his regular season work and he helped carry the Eagles to a Super Bowl title with more strong play in the postseason. It added up to 482 touches and almost as many hits from opposing players over the course of the season, which meant that Barkley got similar advice from everyone he asked about how he should handle his prep for 2025.
Barkley said he spoke to head coach Nick Sirianni and running backs coach Jemal Singleton as well as Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James about his plans and that he followed their advice.
'It wasn't hard because everyone I trust told me basically to sit my ass down for a little bit. . . . 'You've just got to be smarter, right? You have your moments where you go in there and you grind, you push it,' Barkley said, via Tim McManus of ESPN.com. 'But the majority of those days is just mobility, conditioning, doing all the things to get your body in shape to perform at a high level. It was a lot of workload, but my body feels great, so that's the most important thing.'
Barkley said he feels like he's 'entering my prime' as he heads into his eighth NFL season. That would run counter to what we've seen from other backs over the years, but Barkley is coming off an uncommon season and there's plenty of reason to think he can remain successful while running behind a stout line in an offense featuring a number of other threats.
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