The Philadelphia Eagles may need to shore up their ground game this offseason, and their answer could be somewhere in the NFC East.
Adam Thompson of Bookies.com gives the Eagles the fourth-best chance to land New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley in free agency this offseason, putting their odds at +700.
The Giants, Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals were the three teams listed in front of Philadelphia.
Although New York has been given the best odds to retain Barkley, it seems somewhat hard to envision the Giants re-signing Barkley if he maintains his stance on his asking price.
Last offseason, New York slapped a franchise tag on Barkley, and the two sides ultimately came to terms on a one-year, $10 million deal. Barkley wants a more lucrative multi-year contract, and it seems unlikely that the Giants will give it to him.
So, it stands to reason that Barkley will be playing his football elsewhere in 2024, and Philly could kill two birds with one stone if it signs him. Not only would adding Barkley boost the club’s offensive and add some versatility, but it would also hurt New York in the process.
That being said, it should be noted that Barkley is coming off of a rather pedestrian 2023 campaign in which he rushed for 962 yards and six touchdowns while averaging 3.9 yards per carry. He also caught 41 passes for 280 yards and four scores. He missed three games with an ankle injury.
The 26-year-old’s career has unfortunately been largely defined by injuries, as Barkley has not played a full season since his rookie campaign back in 2018. When healthy, he is certainly one of the better halfbacks in football, but actually staying on the field has been a big problem for the Penn State product.
We’ll see if the Eagles do make a play for Saquon Barkley in March.
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