NEW ORLEANS -- Howie Roseman huddled with a handful of senior aides and personnel men for one of a series of meetings from the NovaCare Sports Complex in South Philly.

It was January 2023, and the Eagles' executive vice president and his staff were in the midst of offseason planning. Philadelphia was days ahead of a Super Bowl run that would fall just short of the ultimate prize in a heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Roseman and his team were discussing the additions that might get them back to this stage.

New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley was scheduled to become a free agent that year, and his name was raised in a way sources in the room said was more than fleeting. The Eagles had seen plenty of Barkley since he entered the league, and the NFC East, in 2018. They'd mostly limited him -- Barkley hadn't logged a 100-yard game vs. Philly since his rookie season -- but they also knew what was on tape. Barkley was a nightmare to game-plan against.

"It's really hard to find difference-makers at any position," a team source said. "With a guy like [Barkley], positional considerations become less of a focus."

The Giants ended up putting the franchise tag on Barkley, and the Eagles moved forward. Turns out they were getting a 14-month jump on the eventual prize. The 2023 season would include a late-season plummet highlighted by tension between quarterback Jalen Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni, who barely escaped with his job. Philadelphia sought big-picture solutions for the offense.

Barkley's name was again raised as an option in January 2024 -- albeit a relatively pricey one that would serve as a departure from the franchise's usual methodology. Roseman hadn't paid running backs top dollar in recent years. The last Eagles back to receive a substantial deal was Demarco Murray, who was signed for five years and $40 million in a curious move instigated by then-head coach Chip Kelly in 2015. Murray lasted one season in Philadelphia.

But Barkley was the type of player who transcended philosophy, the kind some Eagles scouts privately dreamed of acquiring as they watched him from the press box twice per season. Philadelphia made the deal for Barkley on the first day of free agency and watched 11 months later as he helped lift the Eagles to their second title with a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. Though the Chiefs limited Barkley to 57 rushing yards on 25 carries, his 2,504 combined regular-season and playoff yards would become the most in NFL history. 

"We knew that the focus would be on the run game and we took advantage of it," said Barkley, who added six catches for 40 yards. "We took advantage of it in the pass game. Jalen [Hurts] came out, played big and it took a team effort. Coaches, everyone in the Eagles organization, it takes all of us."

The excitement about the possibilities with Barkley began building in the 2024 offseason and never abated even as green confetti rained on the running back and his teammates at Caesars Superdome on Sunday night.

"When I heard that news," offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, the architect of the Eagles' elite blocking scheme, said of the acquisition, "I was like 'Holy cow. This is going to be unbelievable.'"

People inside the building were elated. Running backs coach Jemal Singleton remembers introducing himself to other coaches as "Saquon Barkley's running backs coach" the day the news broke in mid-March.

The most important, high-visibility part of the Eagles' run to Super Bowl LIX played a position that has seen its value plummet around the NFL, with a franchise tag figure that surpasses only that of kickers and punters. Barkley's acquisition raised a lot of questions for the team that let him walk, for the team that gave him more than $12 million per year in an out-of-character move and potentially for the league's view of the running back position moving forward.

Barkley answered the questions about his value with one of the finest seasons by a running back in NFL history, and now comes the debate about whether his mesmerizing 2024 performance has changed anything in the NFL -- and Barkley's own future.

"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," Roseman said last week. "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."

AS THE EAGLES prepared for Super Bowl LIX, hundreds of NFL types descended upon Mobile, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl. Scouts gathered at bars in downtown hotels after the day's evaluations were complete, and one veteran scout weighed the merits of the term "generational talent" between cocktails.

He concluded no player in this year's draft class fit the description, at running back or any other position.

"That's Myles Garrett, Saquon Barkley, guys like that," the scout said. "Very few should be mentioned in this space."

Still, when Barkley signed for three years and $37 million on the first day of 2024 free agency, the move carried some risk for the Eagles. Barkley had logged a heavy workload with 1,900 carries dating to his days at Penn State and had also sat out 25 NFL games over six seasons, with a right ACL tear and multiple ankle injuries compromising his availability. New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen highlighted the fears about Barkley's dependability when he made his stance clear during an episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks."

"We've got to upgrade the offensive line, and you're paying [quarterback Daniel Jones] $40 million," Schoen told the front office group assembled in his office. "It's not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back."

Schoen's words and that stance did not age well for the Giants, who won three games and benched Jones midway through the season, ultimately releasing him. Barkley would flourish elsewhere.

Multiple NFL executives said injury history was their only reservation about the Barkley signing in Philadelphia, with one calling it a "no-brainer" because of the "caliber of player."

"Based on their offense, you figured he'd have a good year -- not sure anybody knew he'd be [an] MVP [candidate]," an AFC executive said. "As long as he's healthy, I don't think anybody was doubting him. Anytime you have a talent like that, you can do a lot of things. He's a core piece."

Questions did persist about how Barkley would acclimate to an offense with a dual-threat quarterback and two high-end receivers in A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith. But as one national NFL scout pointed out, the key element was pairing Barkley with Hurts in the ground game.

"That dual-threat offense with the [run-pass option] behind that great offensive line has brought out the best in Saquon," the scout said. "When they signed him, the first thing I said is, 'He's going to have a monster year.' And he did."

His performances this season will forever live in Philly folklore, echoing through Birds-obsessed living rooms from Morristown to Drexel Hill. A sampling from a season in which Barkley would win the NFL rushing crown and league Offensive Player of the Year with a franchise record 2,005 yards in 16 games:

  • 147 yards and two touchdowns on 17 rushes in a Week 3 win over a Saints team that had been one of the league's biggest surprises up to that point.
  • 176 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in his first career matchup against the Giants in Week 7
  • A jaw-dropping 26-carry, 255-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Rams in Week 12, followed by a similarly jaw-dropping 26-carry, 205-yard, two-TD outing against those same Rams in an NFC divisional round playoff game seven weeks later.

Then, a Barkley-authored scene in the NFC Championship Game offered strong evidence it was over on the first carry.

Barkley had been the emphasis for the Washington Commanders entering the NFC title game. The Commanders were seeing Barkley for the third time this season and were saying all the right things. Defenders would prevent home runs by working in sync. They would avoid overconfident tackling angles, embrace the mundane and keep Barkley contained. They would fill gaps when he cut back into another lane. The script had been written meticulously, until Barkley ripped it up.

On the first play from scrimmage, Hurts pitched it as Barkley moved to his left, in what Barkley later revealed was a dummy call based on a formation shown in a previous matchup with Washington. Left tackle Jordan Mailata was on the move to swallow a defender. Tight end Dallas Goedert moved his man 15 yards downfield. Commanders pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. was tripped up during his pursuit, slowing linebacker Bobby Wagner in the process. Stoutland noted that Eagles players want to block extra hard for Barkley because of how much he credits his teammates for good plays, which was the case here.

Barkley handled the rest, with a hesitation move, a spin and a cutback to dodge three defenders as if he were back in grade school recess. A 60-yard touchdown as a delirious Lincoln Financial Field crowd rejoiced and Commanders coach Dan Quinn's eyes widened.

"Rare change of direction, spins, jump cuts, vision behind the line, seeing a safety and working it back -- he has the quickness of a smaller back and the size of a big back," Quinn said of Barkley afterward.

The brilliance in the Eagles' plan for Barkley stretches beyond the player's immeasurable skill to the imposing nature of the players blocking for him. The Eagles have long presented one of the league's elite lines. Barkley was the right Eagle, at the right time, behind the right line to catalyze a Super Bowl run. The way the Eagles' line synchronized behind him seemed like a dance routine. Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen joked that the Eagles' line can "block out the sun ... probably the biggest line we've gone against," which requires near-mistake-free tackling to beat them. Cullen & Co. did as fine a job against Barkley on Sunday as could be expected, and the Eagles still finished with 135 yards on the ground. 

"Have you seen them? Huge, huge guys," Commanders defensive tackle Johnny Newton lamented. "Those guys work great together as a group. Really disciplined. They do their jobs at a high level. The way they stunt together, move together, communication pre-snap. Same page. It's like a routine, man."

Now the NFL awaits a look at Barkley's 2025 dance card.

BARKLEY IS VIEWED not as a one-hit wonder but a player the Eagles can build around ... at least in the short term. He turned 28 on Super Bowl Sunday and is due a $1.17 million base salary in 2025, along with a $9.843 million option bonus, which the Eagles will almost surely pay. He's due $14 million in 2026, the final year of his current deal. Philadelphia can decide well before then whether to extend his contract or let him play it out, setting the stage for free agency at age 30 -- largely considered the danger zone for backs.

One league executive predicts the Eagles, known for being proactive on player deals, could be open to extending Barkley by one or two years to give him more up-front money while protecting the back end with escape hatches. His magical 2024 season paved the road, but it's the next two seasons that will determine whether Barkley can remain healthy and productive enough to stay on a Hall of Fame path.

"I could see them tacking on a year or two with a marginal bump in pay over 2025 and 2026," the executive said. "But [the Eagles will] likely only do a deal if very low risk."

His legacy and contract aside, Barkley has strengthened the running back's status in the game at a time when many teams have devalued the position.

One veteran AFC assistant said the emphasis on big-money passers over the past decade caused defenses to increasingly drop into coverage, with more two-deep-safety looks. This reality in turn inspired offenses such as Philadelphia's to return to the run more heavily over the past two seasons. While few backs boast Barkley's ability, the trend he helped exemplify could change the calculus for teams who might seek to move running backs up draft boards and free agent wish lists.

"It's about time running backs start getting credibility," an AFC executive said. "You won't sign an average back to big money, but you will sign an average quarterback to big money. Maybe that's because teams were getting to Super Bowls without an elite back. But with the evolution of the game, teams are returning to doing things we did best. We all know how big a part a running back is to an offense."

Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton was quick to note last week that five different rushers produced 1,400 or more yards this season, a Barkley-led vengeance tour. Only one rusher (Christian McCaffrey) surpassed 1,400 last season. The ability to run the ball when you want changes the complexion of a game, Bolton said.

"[Backs] at the NFL level felt disrespected, and they took ownership of it this offseason," Bolton said. "You have elite guys working together and trying to find the best way to be valued again. They came back this year and are hungry. You can tell with how they are running the football."

The Vikings' Aaron Jones, Chargers' J.K. Dobbins and Steelers' Najee Harris are listed among the league's top 50 free agents and will offer a test of whether the paradigm is truly shifting. Running back and 2024 Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty, a consensus top-10 choice in current ESPN mock drafts, will also find himself coveted one season after "2K Sa."

Beyond this season, the Bills' James Cook, Jets' Breece Hall or any number of star running backs set for free agency in 2026 will have Barkley to thank for the enhanced profile. Running backs won't return to the days of being the highest-paid players. But there's room for the position to grow, and it took a transcendent talent to enliven it.

"There are certain players in the history of this league that are difference-makers -- everything's different, production level, explosiveness," Stoutland said. "When you get your hands on a guy like that, you're very fortunate."