It may have been tough sledding for Eagles running back Saquon Barkley in Super Bowl LIX.
But getting to hold the Lombardi Trophy was the perfect cap to his first season with Philadelphia — and Barkley’s 28th birthday.
“She looks prettier in person, I’ll tell you that,” Barkley said of the trophy while balancing his two children in his lap after the game. “You think about it, it’s better in person than it is in Madden, I’ll tell you, that playing as a kid. It’s everything you dream of. I’m just happy to be able to hold it, give it a kiss, and be world champs.”
Barkley signed with Philadelphia on a three-year deal in March, after the Giants elected to let him walk in free agency. Barkley noted that the whole team helped give him some confidence back following some trying years with New York. But it also was clearly gratifying for him to be able to celebrate his first championship after just his first season with the team.
“I mean, yeah, it took seven years to get here — some ups and downs, some injuries,” Barkley said. “But coming here and being a part of this team, I remember the first time I was in the huddle, and I looked to my left and looked to my right and could see all the Pro Bowlers and all the All-Pros on the roster and on the offense. The defense, I ain’t gonna lie, I didn’t know we would have the No. 1 defense. It kind of makes sense now because with all the talent that we had, they gave us hell in practice in camp. But it’s a team effort, so just Year 1, why not?
“Why not start our dynasty now?”
Perhaps Philadelphia will become the league’s next dynasty after preventing the Chiefs from winning back-to-back-to-back Super Bowls. If they do, it will have started on this night, where Barkley and Howie Roseman got to share a moment on the sideline, realizing the dream the G.M. put in the running back’s head when he joined the Eagles.
“I hugged him and I said, ‘Thank you for believing in me,’” Barkley said. “One of our first conversations, he promised me that we were going to be here and that confetti was going to fall down on us, and we’d be smiling and hugging. So, I’m thankful to the Eagles organization and everyone in it. But Howie really believed in me.”