Saquon Barkley had one of the best running back seasons in NFL history and the Philadelphia Eagles are rewarding him for it.
The Eagles and the 28-year-old Barkley have agreed to terms on a two-year extension, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia. The deal is worth $41.2 million, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported. That makes him the highest-paid running back in NFL history.
This two-year extension will run through the 2028 season, tying him to the team for four more seasons. Barkley will be 30 and 31 in those two seasons of the deal.
It’s rare for the Eagles to give out an extension after just one year, but Barkley is worth that exception after the season he had in 2024.
Not only did he become the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, but he also rushed for more yards than anybody in a regular season and postseason in NFL history and was a key cog on the Eagles’ Super Bowl winning team. He was also named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
Last offseason, the Eagles signed Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million deal and have already extended him after one season. His new average per year (which is based on the extension) makes him the first running back in NFL history to earn over $20 million per season. The NFL’s previous highest-paid running back was Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers, who has an APY of $19 million.
According to ESPN, the new deal includes $36 million fully guaranteed and Barkley can earn an additional $15 million in incentives and escalators.
We don’t have all the full details of the extension and what salary implications it will have for the Eagles this year and going forward. But Barkley’s cap hit for 2025 was already relatively low at $7.36 million and his base salary was set to be just $1.17 million, per OverTheCap.
Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards in the regular season and added 499 yards rushing in the playoffs. Barkley finished the postseason with 2,504 rushing yards in the regular season and postseason combined and had 2,857 scrimmage yards. Those are both NFL records.
It’s hard to overstate how much Barkley meant to the Eagles in 2024. Not only was his play a catalyst for what the Eagles’ offense became but he also grew into an important leadership role in the locker room, to go along with his All-Pro play.
“A huge, huge player and person for this team,” Eagles GM Howie Roseman said of Barkley during Super Bowl week. “And not a hard trigger to pull. I think I'm being consistent with what I said in March. Was extremely confident in the player and the person. I'd like to say he's exceeded expectations, but he’s always been one of the best players I've ever seen, whenever I've watched him. And I have always known about what kind of person he is because it's not hard to find that out.
“So I'm really not surprised by any of this, and I don't say that in an arrogant way. It's based on who he is, nothing to do with me. Because this is who he's always been and I'm just glad everyone gets to see that. I would just say the person is as good as the player and I'm not downplaying the player. That makes me proud.”
