The 2024 season for Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was one of, if not the, most impressive RB seasons in NFL history.
He ran for over 2,000 yards in the regular season, becoming the ninth player in NFL history to do so. Oh, and the Eagles also won the Super Bowl. Following that historic season, the Eagles rewarded Barkley with a contract extension.
Eagles and Barkley Agree on $41.2M Extension
Six days before the legal tampering period of NFL free agency, the Eagles decided to extend their best player from last season, Saquon Barkley. Adam Schefter was the first to break the news.
This is big news, with plenty of factors to break down.
For starters, Barkley signed his initial deal with the Eagles less than 365 days ago. As Schefter mentioned, they’re giving him a new deal technically in the same league year in which they initially signed him.
He was only one year into his three-year deal with the Eagles, but they decided to reset the running back market and give him a new deal.
Eagles are rewarding Saquon Barkley with a two-year, $41.2 million contract extension that makes him the highest-paid running back in NFL history, per sources. The deal makes Barkley the NFL’s first $20 million+ per-year running back. Barkley also has the ability to earn an… pic.twitter.com/h5iEf5IWe2
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2025
The deal includes a $41.2 million extension that makes Barkley the highest-paid RB in NFL history. He also becomes the first RB to earn $20 million or more per year. Schefter also mentioned that Barkley can earn up to $15 million in incentives and escalators, with $36 million fully guaranteed at signing.
After the season Barkley had for the Eagles, it’s hard to say he doesn’t deserve this contract. As mentioned earlier, he became the ninth player in NFL history to run for 2,000 yards in the regular season, and he also set the Eagles’ single-season rushing yards record.
Not only that, but Barkley broke the record for the most rushing yards in a season when you include the playoffs, running for 2,504 yards between the regular season and playoffs (2,005 in the regular season, 499 in the playoffs).
Unsurprisingly, Barkley won the 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year award. Normally, running backs do not set the market at age 28 (which Barkley turned on the day of Super Bowl LIX), but Barkley had an unprecedented season. In the understatement of the year, Barkley was a huge factor in the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, despite having a quiet game himself.
In the NFL mic’d up video released a few days after the Super Bowl, multiple teammates, along with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and GM Howie Roseman, went up to Barkley to tell him how much he meant to the team.
Barkley was always going to be on the Eagles for at least the 2025 season, but now he’s signed through the 2028 season.