Saquon still feels like he's entering his prime even after 2K season

After pulling off one of the best running back seasons in NFL history, Saquon Barkley has been taking things a little easier this offseason.

“Yeah, you’ve just got to be smarter,” Barkley said.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t worked hard. The 28-year-old reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year has worked hard this offseason. But there’s a time to grind and a time to relax and he’s been making sure to give his body time to rest after a really heavy workload in 2024. 

“But the beauty of it is,” Barkley said on Tuesday. “I don’t know how many touches I had (482 in the regular season and postseason), nor how many yards (2,857 from scrimmage), but it doesn’t feel like it. I feel really good. 

“I feel like I’m entering my prime. I just gotta continue to have the mindset of listening to everyone, buying into whatever they want me to do. Whatever they want me to do, try to do it at the best of my ability.”

Entering his prime!?

After having a 2,000-yard season!?

Barkley in 2024 had an all-time running back season. He became just the ninth back in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in the regular season and broke Terrell Davis’s record for rushing yards in a regular season and postseason combined. And he capped it all with a Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in February.

It might be hard for some players to find their motivation after all that, but not Barkley.

“The thing that drives me is the same thing that has driven me since I was a little kid,” Barkley said. “I’ve said this since I got into the league and I don’t mean it in an arrogant way. I want to be the best running back to ever play or at least one of the best running backs to ever play. I don’t think there’s actually a way you can prove who’s the best. 

“But that’s always been my motivation and I feel like God’s blessed me with the unique ability and put me through a lot of adversity and that’s still going to be my mindset. The love of the game, wanting to win and wanting to compete and wanting to be great, it’s always going to push me no matter if we win four Super Bowls.”

Barkley admitted that rushing for 2,000 yards again would be “pretty cool” and it is something that no back in NFL history has ever done. But he also admitted that he didn’t go into last year with the goal to rush for over 2,000. It just sort of happened that way.

Always a student of the game, Barkley on Tuesday referenced watching “A Football Life: Emmitt Smith” and noted that Smith was a goal-setter. So is Barkley. But he’s taking care of the little things on the way to those big goals.

For now, that means a rep off here or there in practice. Listening to head coach Nick Sirianni or running backs coach Jemal Singleton or the trainers or his mentors about how to help his body recover after a season with a ton of touches. Barkley said he even reached out to a couple of greats — Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James — from his contact list for advice.

And when asked if he had spoken to any of the previous 2,000-yard rushers to see if they had any tips for how to come off a season like that, it sparked an idea.

“I should reach out to Derrick (Henry),” he said. “I’m good friends with Derrick.”

Barkley said at one point in his career, it would have been harder for him to take things easy in an offseason. He would have seen clips of Henry or Christian McCaffrey working out and worried that he was falling behind. He’s still that competitive, but he’s more pointed with that competitiveness.

And he said it actually wasn’t hard to rest this offseason, “because everyone that I trust basically told me to sit my a— down for a little bit.”

Recently, Barkley’s answer on the Green Light podcast with Chris Long about his eventual retirement caught fire on social media. Barkley was presented with the options of going out like Barry Sanders or Aaron Donald with something left in the tank vs. playing until the wheels fall off … and Barkley chose the former.

But Barkley on Tuesday made it clear that he’s not thinking of hanging up his cleats just yet.

“I don’t plan on retiring any time soon,” Barkley said. “The question was asked to me. I don’t have a set date or how many years I want to play. I would love to play this game as long as God lets me and my body lets me.”

If Barkley truly is just entering his prime, that day might not come anytime soon.