In Philly, the 2024 season was one for the ages. The kind that gets you a parade down Broad Street, rewrites record books, and puts your face on Madden 26. “I’ve been making myself 99 since I can remember,” Saquon Barkley said after getting into the 99 club. “To actually have it means a lot.” So he did more than just dominate; he exploded. The man bulldozed his way to 2,504 running yards in 2024, making him the only player in NFL history to surpass 2,500 yards in a single season (including playoffs). Oh, and he broke the single-season record with 2,857 yards from scrimmage.
He not only carried the Eagles to win the Lombardi but also made them legendary. Five touchdowns in the postseason. To top it all off, the Eagles invited him into the rare 99 Club—the only Philadelphia athlete to ever receive that flawless Madden rating. And now this?
Barkley enters 2025 with his gold 99 chain still shiny and new, but he does so under the one cloud that no NFL player can escape: regression. Fantasy analyst John Daigle gave Barkley’s impending campaign a stat-heavy warning mark on the Ross Tucker Podcast. Daigle said, “It was the most touches since DeMarco Murray actually led the league in touches for Saquon Barkley to reach 460 plus. It’s an absurd number how much they used him. He’s once again going to rival for the league and touches.” But then Daigle sounded the alarm, “There will be there will be regression in terms of his explosive touchdown runs. Like you just can’t naturally sustain.” Translation? Even superheroes eventually need ice packs. Sure, Barkley still has a lot of opportunities because Will Shipley is his only true backfield rival. But 460+ touches is like attempting to drive cross-country without changing the oil. The engine will inevitably splutter.
“It was the most touches since DeMarco Murray…”
“There will be regression in terms of his explosive touchdown runs.”@notJDaigle expects Saquon Barkley to take a step back this year: pic.twitter.com/8d8jJnxDkd
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) June 27, 2025
And here’s the problem. Barkley recently became a member of the 2,000-yard club, but that group has its own set of baggage. Statistical baggage. Let’s roll the receipts. Like Adrian Peterson. He ran for an incredible 2,097 yards in 2012, which was just nine yards short of breaking the record set by Eric Dickerson. But the very following season? He dipped to 1,266 yards, and that was still in 14 games. Impressive, sure, but far from the historic record he had set. Next? Terrell Davis. He crushed his way to a Super Bowl ring and 2,008 rushing yards in 1998. The next year? Just 211 yards, in four games. His knees gave out, and his career was never the same again.
Zero repeat 2,000-yard campaigns. Not one. Barkley is currently the second-oldest member of the club, having joined at the age of 28. Barry Sanders ran wild at the age of 29, and he retired two years later. Not to mention that Barkley already set a career high with 345 regular-season carries in 2024. Add 91 playoff rushing attempts on top of that. Yeah, even a tank eventually needs new treads. But if the first regression news wasn’t enough of a shock. The second shocker? Barkley’s retirement buzz.
Saquon Barkley retirement talk sparks buzz
It started when Barkley casually compared himself to Barry Sanders. And it started the whole ‘is he going to retire just like Sanders?’ As he suggested, he might hang up his cleats “out of nowhere.” He also said it might happen “next year or [in] two years or four years.” Phew! Well, there is still hope. But in response, head coach Nick Sirianni shrugged his shoulders like a man trying to survive minicamp: “Yeah, I guess anybody could do that, right? I just know he’s got a lot of good football left in him.” That’s coach-speak for: Please stop asking me about Saquon’s bucket list. But here’s the part that actually matters — Barkley isn’t just talking out loud. He’s acting on it.
Gone are the offseason hill sprints. Instead of them? Mobility training. Core training. After minicamp, Barkley remarked, “It wasn’t hard because everyone I trust told me to sit my a– down for a little bit.” To maintain his prime years, he is modifying his training under the guidance of legends like Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James. Instead of trying to show up at training camp in Week 1 form, he’s pacing himself — a quiet nod to the workload he knows was probably unsustainable.
Let’s be honest: Barkley was the Eagles’ offense in 2024. Jalen Hurts played more like an elite decoy than a dual-threat. Every third-and-short was Barkley up the middle. Every playoff drive? Barkley with a death march. But this type of volume doesn’t come cheap. Most 2K backs didn’t even play full seasons after their career years. Barkley’s already had multiple injury-hampered seasons before Philly fixed him. And unless you want running backs to age well, the smart move by the Eagles would be to dial things back in 2025. The question is, can they afford to?
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