Why I’m Buying High on Saquon Barkley

The Philadelphia Eaglesgot off to a good start to their 2024 season, narrowly defeating the Green Bay Packers by a score of 34-29. A massive reason behind the Eagles’ win was their prized offseason addition, running back Saquon Barkley .

Barkley got his Eagles’ career off to an electric start. He ran for 109 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns on the ground while also catching two passes for 23 yards, with one of those going for a touchdown as well. Barkley was a godsend for his fantasy managers, scoring 31.2 standard points and 33.2 PPR points.

If you don’t have Barkley on your team yet, he’s one of the players you should target immediately. Although his price via trade might be inflated due to his stellar Week 1 performance, you should try to acquire him as soon as possible anyway because Week 1 is the rule, not the exception.

Barkley’s Week 1 Usage Showed Promise For the Rest of the Season

The Eagles relied on Barkley heavily, giving hope for his usage over the rest of the year

Over the past couple of years, the Eagles have used several running backs. Kenneth Gainwell , Boston Scott and Miles Sanders have all gotten their share of carries. While the Eagles have had a dignified lead-back each season, they’ve still given some of their other backs a bit of carries as well.

On Friday, there was only one running back the Eagles seemed to trust running the ball. Aside from the 13 times quarterback Jalen Hurts ran the ball, almost every rush exclusively went to Barkley. He got 24 rushing attempts, while Gainwell only received one carry.

In the receiving game, Barkley managed to make an impact as well. If he didn’t score a touchdown as a receiver, his statline of two catches for 23 yards wouldn’t look that impressive. However, how Barkley was used as a pass-catcher gives a lot of hope for his fantasy value for the rest of the year.

Most running backs that catch the ball out of the backfield mainly serve as a check-down option when the first few reads aren’t available. However, Barkley’s touchdown catch came on a deep wheel route, and there were a few times throughout the game in which he ran similar route concepts deeper down the field.

While he only had two receptions, the Eagles showed they were interested in using him as a legitimate receiver out of the backfield.

Overall, Barkley’s fantasy managers have to be ecstatic. He received 96% of the running back carries, and we saw examples of what he could do as a receiver. Both of those show that he has the potential to carry his Week 1 value throughout the rest of the season, with a workload that could look similar to Christian McCaffrey’s in recent years.

It’s Time to Buy High on Barkley

Your league-mate might want to sell high on Barkley, but pursue him anyway

While Barkley was considered one of the better running backs in the class, he was a bit more of a wild card than some of his counterparts before the season began. We know he’s been able to produce in the past, but the end of his time with the New York Giants was a bit less productive than we had seen from him.

After his performance against the Packers, his asking price will surely be high. There are two routes to take if you’re thinking of acquiring Barkley.

The first is to go after him now. While the price may be high, if you need a difference-making running back, it’s hard to think of a better option than Barkley. We’ve already talked about his massive role in the offense, but even more importantly, he looks just as healthy and explosive as he always has, and his performance on Friday looked like he was still in his prime.

Or, you could wait a week or two and hope he has a down week, then try to trade for him. If Barkley follows up with a quieter performance in the next week or two, he might be easier to trade for. However, this runs the risk that he continues to play at an elite level instead and his asking price gets even higher, which is very possible.

Either way, Barkley looks like a must-have for the 2024 season.

All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference and all fantasy data courtesy of FantasyPros unless stated otherwise.