Howie Roseman explains the rationale behind the Eagles signing Saquon Barkley to a massive deal

You live and you learn. Maybe that's the message here. We can't forget our pasts or the lessons we learn from them, but we can't be so rigid that we resist necessary changes either. Years have gone by. We sometimes believe we know what Howie Roseman is thinking. Time and time again, the Philadelphia Eagles' general manager teaches us that we don't. Look no further than Saquon Barkley's addition.

Saquon Barkley is an Eagle! We still can't believe it. Can you? We remember the conversations. The Eagles don't value running backs. They'll never invest big-time money into the position. Au contraire mon frère! It seems nothing could be further from the truth.

On March 13th, Philly added the former Penn State-New York Giants star by way of a three-year, $37.75 million contract that could be worth upwards of $46.75 million. $26 million was fully guaranteed at signing. It appears that settles the discussion.

The annual league meeting is underway. Howie Roseman spoke with members of the media. Among the topics... all of that coin that was given to Saquon.

Howie Roseman explains the thought process behind the Saquon Barkley signing.

In some ways we get it. NFL running backs enjoy shorter shelf lives than guys who play other positions. Any massive deal given to a guy playing tailback may need its own warning label. 'Proceed with caution'. Organizations have their fears that players won't be able to remain healthy. In some ways, Saquon is part of the reason for that.

He has been ruled inactive 11 times throughout the 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 NFL seasons. He spent 14 games on the injured reserve during the Giants 2020 NFL campaign. Hey, there's no point in giving a guy a massive payday when there's no guarantee that he'll be on the field, right?

So, yes... We can see why some might have believed it was a stretch to believe Philly might acquire him. Howie, during a brief discussion with the media at the annual league meeting offered his reasoning behind the decision.

Sure, we've seen a revolving door at the position from time to time. The Eagles moved on from Miles Sanders and D'Andre Swift after Pro Bowl seasons in successive seasons, but we also know other things to be true.

We know that, had the Carolina Panthers not taken Christian McCaffrey eighth overall in 2017 and had he fallen to Philly, the Birds would have entertained taking the former Stanford star during that year's NFL Draft, one that interestingly enough was hosted in Philly.

Guys like Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley don't grow on trees though, so we get it. From Philly's perspective, you have to pursue guys that help your team win now, and Roseman and his team have done that.

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