The New York Giants were not expected to be able to retain Saquon Barkley‘s services. While the deal cannot be official until Wednesday afternoon, we now know he’ll play his first professional game as a member of a new team after agreeing to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles.
It's a 3-year, $37.75M deal for Saquon Barkley and the #Eagles. Philly pays top of the market for a RB. https://t.co/cnj0QBuMMo
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2024
This comes shortly after Philly lost last year’s leading rusher, D’Andre Swift, to the Chicago Bears in free agency. The running back carousel continues to spin, and the Eagles are a great landing spot for Barkley to shine. Much like Swift, he’s a dual-threat option as a capable rusher and elite receiving outlet from the backfield.
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Swift produced RB19 fantasy results last season in PPR scoring, tallying 1,263 total yards and six offensive scores on 278 utilizations over 16 contests. Provided Barkley — whose well-documented injury history is a factor to consider — can play 16-plus games, that same output is easily within his reach. The biggest concern for a healthy Barkley will be Jalen Hurts stealing carries inside of the 5-yard line and rubbing him of scoring opportunities.
Fantasy football outlook
As with any season in which Barkley is in your draft sights, accepting an elevated risk of injury absence is required. Once that is out of the way, the price of admission will be somewhere between the 10th to 20th overall picks in most PPR settings. Barkley should have no problem generating RB1 results over a full slate.