Heading into the 2024 offseason, the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles decided to buck with the general trend of the NFL by investing heavily in the running back position, signing Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley to eight-figures-per-year long-term contracts.
At the time, some questioned the strategy, as running backs often fall off quickly once they hit their second contracts, with 27 rightfully or wrongly the age most identify as the Mendoza line of RB efficiency. But fast forward 12 weeks into the 2024 NFL season, and those assumptions appear incredibly shortsighted; Henry and Barkley are the top two runners in the league after joining elite rushing offenses, and thus far, no defensive coordinator has found a reliable way to shut either down for more than a few series at a time.
Asked how it feels to see two elite runners take the field in the same game, John Harbaugh laid out his expectations plainly, noting that it'll be as challenging for the Ravens to slow down the Barkley as it will be for the Eagles to shut down Henry.
“Well, we're just going to have a tough time and challenge stopping this running back that we're playing, and we're hoping that they have a tough time stopping our running back,” Harbaugh told reporters. “So that's kind of our focus right now.”
Is Harbaugh being modest, with a good old fashioned “neener neener” in poor form on a Wednesday media avaialbility session? Potentially so, but when the story of the 2024 NFL season is written, the Eagles and Ravens will be featured prominently, not only because they have won a lot of games but also because they made the choice to sign superstar running backs to supercharge their offenses and the results have been, well, super.
John Harbaugh is impressed by Saquon Barkley's offensive game
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Asked what has stood out most about Barkley in 2024 later in his session, Harbaugh highlighted just how many ways the PSU product can attack opposing teams, as he really is a do-it-all weapon for Philadelphia.
“Wow, where do you start with Saquon Barkley? He's just a really hard guy to tackle. I think his vision is really good. They run a lot of different schemes – inside zone is kind of where they start – but inside zone, outside zone [and] they have different gap schemes,” Harbaugh told reporters.
“Just his vision – his ability to see from edge to edge and all the way across whenever there's a gap that's not defended – he can see it. [He can] not only see it, but get to it. All of the other highlight stuff is there as well, but just his ability to make a defense pay for not being in the right spot is probably the thing that jumps out at me the most.”
Widely known for his abilities to make plays in space from his time with the New York Giants, the Eagles' ability to get Barkley over two yards per carry before he is even contacted has revolutionized his offensive game, with the entire width of the team now a big play waiting to happen. While the Ravens are stout up front, the challenge of slowing Barkley down may ultimately define Week 13's outcome.
