The Philadelphia Eagles and general manager Howie Roseman are really cooking in the NFL’s free-agency period, agreeing with RB Saquon Barkley on a three-year, $37.75M deal and with defensive end Bryce Huff on a three-year, $51.1M contract, per ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter.
The Barkley deal is likely to rile up fans of the rival Giants. Former Big Blue star Tiki Barber said recently, “The fact that Saquon would even contemplate going to play for that team in Philadelphia is insulting to his Giant history and legacy.”
Barkley, 27, rushed for 5,211 yards and 35 scores in 74 games with New York. The former Penn State star had a career-high 1,312 rushing yards in 2022, but he fell off to 962 rushing yards in an injury-hampered 2023 season.
The move marks a departure from franchise philosophy for Roseman and the Eagles, who have gone with a running back-by-committee approach since trading LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills in 2015. The Eagles were one of many teams who moved away from investing high picks or huge dollars at running back.
Barkley will replace D’Andre Swift, who rushed for 1,049 yards for the Eagles in 2023 but agreed on a three-year, $24M contract with the Bears on Monday.
The Eagles also made a big splash on defense by agreeing with Huff, a 25-year-old undrafted free agent who shined with the New York Jets over the past four seasons.
Huff, who is 6-foot-3 and 255 pounds, will help the Eagles reload their defensive line, which suffered the loss of retired franchise great Fletcher Cox on Sunday.
Huff’s signing makes it likely the Eagles will move on from one of their top edge-rushers, Haason Reddick or Josh Sweat.
The Eagles led the league in sacks in 2022 with 70 en route to a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. However, that figure declined to 43 in 2023 as Tampa Bay ousted the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs.
Huff, a rotational player who plays primarily on passing downs, had a breakout season in 2023 with 10 sacks, 21 QB hits and 68 pressures while playing less than half the snaps for the Jets. He led the NFL’s second-best pass defense in sacks.
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