Saquon Barkley makes bold claim about 2024 Eagles' place in NFL history
It's safe to say that Saquon Barkley is very high on his Super Bowl-winning Eagles squad.
When asked where he believes that the 2024 Eagles rank in NFL history, Barkley did not hold back, saying that the team is top-five of all time.
'I firmly believe when you look at our team that we had last year — I know we're not looking too far into the past — but our team last year, I think we're a top-five team of all time,' Barkley said during an episode of the 'Exciting Mics' podcast on Thursday.
Saquon Barkley is all smiles after the Eagles' Super Bowl LIX win over the Chiefs on Feb. 9, 2025.
Getty Images
'I tell my boys this all the time. We started off 2-2, and we lost to Washington. Jalen [Hurts] got hurt that game.
'But if you really look at the season outside the first four games, it was belt to ass. How dominant you guys were on defense and how dominant we were on offense and special teams, people don't realize how great of a team that actually was.'
The Eagles were tied with the Vikings for the third-best record in the NFL last year, going 14-3 in the regular season.
After a somewhat rocky start to the 2024 season, the Eagles finished the year with a 10-1 record in which they outscored their opponents 329-188.
The Eagles were able to take that run into the postseason, defeating the two-time defending champion Chiefs in Super Bowl 2025 in a blowout 40-22 win.
'I think we all just bought in,' Barkley said. 'You hear the outside noise and expectation. We didn't care how it looked. The only thing we cared about was winning football games. When you have the talent and skill that we have on our team mixed with the coaches, we all play together like how we played, teams really stood no chance.
'You've seen that in the playoffs. You've seen that in the Super Bowl. The score finished 40 to 20-something, but in reality, it wasn't even really a game.'
Barkley, who rushed for 2,005 yards last year, added, 'I really think when we look back on it in 10 to 15 years, and we're all old and we're reflecting on our glory days — hopefully next year, the year we're in right now — but the year that we had last year, people don't give us enough credit.'
Saquon Barkley during warm ups before the Eagles' blowout road win over the Giants on Oct. 20, 2024.
Noah K. Murray-NY Post
During the podcast, Barkley also took the time to call out the owners who tried to ban the Eagles' signature tush push play.
The vote did not pass, though 22 teams vote in favor of banning the play.
'The banning thing of it, I think it's soft, to be honest,' Barkley said. 'Because everybody can do it. It's not like a play that we only can do, everybody can do it. It's just, we happen to have one of the best and biggest O-lines and Jalen Hurts can squat 600 pounds. That's not our fault.'
'Josh Allen is super big, [the Bills] aren't successful with it. Lamar Jackson is one of the best running quarterbacks of all time, [the Ravens] aren't successful with it,' Barkley added. 'It's not something that everyone can't do, so them trying to eliminate it, I think that's kind of lame.'
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