Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley knows New York Giants fans were "ecstatic" that his drop of a pass this past Monday night resulted in the Eagles suffering a 22-21 home loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Nevertheless, Barkley doesn’t understand why he's so unpopular among pockets of Giants supporters after he left the franchise to sign with the Eagles as a free agent in March.
"They still don’t get it," Barkley recently told Bob Brookover of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com while speaking about Giants fans, "but I’m over that. It’s in the past. I appreciate the love and the hate at the same time. I’m doing something right for everyone to be talking about me. My mom and my dad told me that there is always going to be somebody saying something good about you and somebody saying something bad about you."
The Giants made Barkley the second overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he played for the club through the 2022 season before New York retained his rights for 2023 via the non-exclusive franchise tag. More recently, the "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants" program that aired this summer showed how Giants general manager Joe Schoen wasn't going to match the three-year, $37.75M contract that could be worth up to $46.75M with $26M fully guaranteed that Barkley received from the Eagles this past offseason.
Barkley told Brookover he'll be "OK" if his relationship with Giants fans never returns to what it was when the 27-year-old helped the club win a playoff game in January 2023.
"I’m here and I’m going to create a legacy here," Barkley explained. "I wanted to be in the ring of honor (with the Giants) and do a lot of things there, but that chapter is closed. I know I’m only (with the Eagles) for three years contract-wise, but, hopefully, in the three years I’m here, I can do some special stuff and I’m admired here. That’s how I look at it."
The rebuilding Giants are 0-2 and could be months away from enduring yet another franchise reset. Thus, it makes sense Schoen didn't want to hand any running back a lucrative contract earlier this year. Meanwhile, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the 1-1 Eagles third among the betting favorites at +700 odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX as of Thursday morning.
Philadelphia next plays at the 2-0 New Orleans Saints this coming Sunday.
