Saquon Barkley signs with the Eagles: The Dynasty Fantasy Football Impact
Every once in a while, a generational player enters the league with ridiculous expectations. These players make dynasty managers salivate and send rookie pick values through the roof. Such was the case in 2018 when Penn State running back Saquon Barkley entered the league after being taken with the second overall pick in the NFL Draft. Dynasty managers who had the 1.01 spent most of the Spring declining trade offers and subsequently made him the cornerstone of their dynasty franchise. Things have been mixed since as Barkley has shown signs of greatness but also battled injuries throughout his career. Six uneven years later, the Giants chose not to re-sign Barkley and let him hit the free agent market – he signed quickly with the Philadelphia Eagles and cashed in big-time with a three-year, $37.8 million contract, with $26 million guaranteed. Let’s reset the values of the players impacted by the move.
Saquon Barkley, RB PHI
When you consider the Philadelphia Eagles were first in run block win rate and the Giants were 31st in the same category last year, it’s hard not to get excited about this. In fact, Barkley had 100 different carries last season where he was hit in the backfield and played behind one of the worst offensive lines in football. He also had to deal with a quarterback carousel that did him no favors. Even with Jason Kelce retiring, the Eagles boast one of the best run blocking units in the NFL and Barkley is bound to find more space than he ever did in New York.
There has never been any question about his ability. Over his six seasons, Barkley has rushed for 5,211 yards and 35 touchdowns. In addition, he’s caught 288 passes for another 2,100 yards, adding 12 more touchdowns. The challenge with him has always been his health as he’s played in a total of just 74 games. If Barkley is healthy, this could be a lot fun.
In short, Saquon is going to have a chance at a banner season. While Jalen Hurts is bound to take some of his touchdown potential away, Barkley is likely going to find space to run like he never has before. His days as a bona fide top ten dynasty pick are likely over but there’s a real chance he could post a career-best season and be a real difference maker in fantasy football this year as this was one of the single best places he could land in free agency.
Kenneth Gainwell, RB PHI
If anyone was thinking this was going to be Gainwell’s job after D’Andre Swift left, that’s been eliminated. There is talk the Eagles may want to limit Barkley’s workload and employ some kind of “thunder and lightning” approach to their offense. That sounds fine for Gainwell but it also seems logical to think the Eagles may add another running back in the draft. In the end, Gainwell has had his moments and could be a valuable handcuff but he just seems like more of a roster clogger than anything else at the moment.
Boston Scott, RB FA
Much like Gainwell, Scott has shown some flashes during his time with the Eagles. Unfortuantely, this is probably the end of the road in the City of Brotherly Love for him. With Barkley in tow and Gainwell under contract for another year, the chances of Scott or Rashaad Penny re-signing seem slim unless they were willing to take a low-salary, high-incentive kind of contract.
Jalen Hurts, QB PHI
Having Barkley around could take some pressure off Hurts but until the rest of the league can show they can stop the “Brotherly Shove,” it seems unlikely his rushing touchdown total is going to decrease. Hurts is at his best using his legs and creativity and that shouldn’t change.
Eagles Receivers
DeVonta Smith, AJ Brown, Dallas Goedert and the rest of the Eagles skills players should be thrilled. If Barkley returns to his dominant self, defenses are going to have to pick their poison. If the presence of Barkley frees up either of these two, this is going to be fun.
Devin Singletary, RB NYG
The other domino in this was the signing of Singletary in New York, He somehow parlayed the bolting of Barkley into a three-year, $16.5 million contract with the Giants. It’s a monster deal for a player who has largely underwhelmed in his time in the league. While he’s had between 800 and 900 rushing yards in each of the past three seasons, he’s never really put together any long stretch of dominance and looked ordinary for much of his time. Still, it’s a decent situation and while he’ll likely be paired with another running back or two, he should retain some good value. His ranking of RB44 seems about right at the moment. I just wouldn’t sell the farm to go and get him at it’s highly unlikely he’s used as a lead back. We’ve also seen the Giants offensive line woes – if Saquon couldn’t succeed with it, it’s hard to believe Singletary could.
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
- Dynasty Fantasy Football 2024 NFL Draft: Veteran Winners and Losers from Day One - April 26, 2024
- Dynasty Running Back Danger Rankings: 8-1 - April 25, 2024
- 2024 Rookie Bust Mock Draft (Pre-Draft Edition): Round Three - April 24, 2024
