Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni isn't losing sleep over Saquon Barkley’s recent comments about potentially retiring “out of nowhere,” choosing instead to focus on what the star running back brings to the team right now.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sirianni addressed Barkley’s surprising remarks, where the running back compared himself to Barry Sanders and suggested he could walk away from football “next year or [in] two years or four years” despite coming off the best season of his career.
“Yeah, I guess anybody could do that, right? I just know he's got a lot of good football left in him,” Sirianni said. “I have interactions with these guys every single day and I'm excited that he's on our football team and he'll be on our football team for the 2025 season.”
The coach emphasized his philosophy of staying grounded in the present rather than getting caught up in hypotheticals. “I really don't let myself get wrapped up into anything else beyond that, except for the day that we're in and trying to get ready for this practice,” Sirianni explained.
Barkley’s retirement musings are particularly shocking given his historic 2024 campaign. The 28-year-old running back led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards on 345 carries, setting Eagles franchise records in both categories. His 5.8 yards per carry average was also a career-best and a franchise mark for any running back with at least 100 carries.
Beyond the rushing totals, Barkley dominated in all phases. His 2,283 total yards from scrimmage (2,005 rushing, 278 receiving) led the league and accounted for 34.8% of Philadelphia’s total offense. He earned AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors and carried that success into the postseason, adding five rushing touchdowns—including explosive runs of 62, 78, and 60 yards—on the way to a Super Bowl LIX title.
The Barry Sanders comparison isn’t lost on anyone familiar with NFL history. Sanders stunned the football world when he retired after the 1998 season at age 30, walking away in his prime after rushing for over 1,400 yards in his final year. Barkley, like Sanders, has shown no signs of slowing down, which makes his remarks all the more surprising.
Sirianni acknowledged that reality while expressing his desire to keep Barkley in midnight green as long as possible. “As long as I’m the head coach here, I’d always want Saquon Barkley on this football team,” he said. “Obviously it means a lot to this football team and as a player and as a teammate.”
Barkley is under contract through 2028, and while his comments add an unexpected layer to his future, the Eagles remain locked in on the present. With their offensive centerpiece healthy and dominant, Sirianni and his team are moving forward with the expectation that Barkley will be suiting up in 2025—no matter what the future may hold.