Eagles’ Saquon Barkley Makes Stunning Retirement Announcement

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has scaled the summit.

Before sliding his first Super Bowl ring onto his finger, Barkley surpassed 2,000 rushing yards during a stellar first season in an Eagles uniform, took home NFL Offensive Player of The Year honors, and was recently announced as the cover athlete for EA Sports’ Madden 26.

The former No. 2 overall pick of the New York Giants, out of Penn State, has accomplished just about everything a running back could hope for in crafting a potential Hall of Fame resumè, but there might not be many more chapters that the 28-year-old plans on writing in his football story.

Could Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley’s Retirement be Imminent?

Throughout his career, Barkley has often cited Detroit Lions legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as a running back he looked up to and has aimed to emulate.

Sanders, of course, walked away from the game, announcing his retirement at age 31 back in 1999, just as he was closing in on Walter Payton’s career rushing yards record.

During an appearance on former NFL star Chris Long’s Green Light Podcast, Barkley hinted that he might ultimately follow in Sanders’ footsteps.

“I’ll probably be one of those guys that it’ll be out of nowhere. I’ll probably just wake up one day, whether it’s next year or two years or four years, and just be like, ‘Yeah, it’s over,’” Barkley said.

“One of my favorite players of all time, probably my favorite player of all time, is Barry Sanders, so probably similar to that. Maybe one day it’ll be out of nowhere. I’ll probably be ballin’ and just be like, yeah, call it quits.”

There is something to be said for the wear and tear that playing running back has on a player’s body. At age 28, Barkley has already gone through multiple high-ankle sprains, a torn ACL, not to mention the bumps, bruises, and toll that 1,546 carries have on a body, so it’s understandable that he might already be thinking about his long-term future.

Just how soon Barkley plans on hanging up his cleats is anyone’s guess, but there’s no a nonzero chance that if the Eagles repeat as Super Bowl champions, perhaps this conversation gets revisited in a more pressing fashion as early as next season.

Saquon Barkley Opens Up About Madden Cover

Barkley’s reverse hurdle against the Jacksonville Jaguars wasn’t just a signature moment of the Eagles’ Super Bowl run, and his career, but it will now be immortalized as the cover of this year’s edition of the Madden franchise.

Just the second Eagles player to grace the cover of EA Sports’ signature video game, Barkley called the process a dream come true.

“It’s something you dream about as a kid. There’s a lot of accolades that you want in your football career and Madden definitely is one of them,” Barkley said, as Geno’s Steaks in Philadelphia partnered with EA Sports to be transformed into Steakquon’s to mark the occasion.

The play against Jacksonville will likely go down as one of the most memorable plays of Barkley’s career, and it’s a moment that even trying to recreate for the video game cover offered a realization of just how difficult it was to pull off at game speed.

“When I had to go recreate it and I realized this is actually kind of hard,” Barkley said. “I don’t even trust myself doing it and had to strap into wires and harness and do the move which was pretty cool.”