The Eagles’ Saquon Barkley made some serious bank in back-to-back off-seasons. The NFLâs rushing king earned the biggest contract for a free agent running back last March when he signed a 3-year, 37.8 million deal with the Birds. Then all he did was rush for 2,499 yards and led the Birds to their second Super Bowl championship. So, on Tuesday the Eagles rewarded their star studded, Malvern based back with a monster two-year extension worth $41.2 million, or roughly $20.6 million per season, making him the first player at his position to ever earn at least $20 million per year. All but $5 million of the deal is fully guaranteed, per ESPN, Oh and the 28-year-old former Nittany Lion can earn an additional $15 million in incentives. Â
But Saquonâs top priority all year was winning the Super Bowl, while the top priority for the sports books was to cash in in Super Bowl 59. Well, the results are in, and both achieved their goals in a big way. But because Saquon didn’t put up big personal numbers in Super Bowl 59, the house cashed in big!
Barkey was one of the driving forces behind the Eagles’ run to a Super Bowl title and just happened to be a regular “play” for bettors in both TD and non-TD player prop markets at many sportsbooks all year.
At ESPN BET, he is the first running back to appear among the most popular non-TD scorers despite the fact that he was facing rushing yard props well over 100 yards by season’s end; he led all running backs with an average rushing yard over-under of 88.3, with the Ravens Derrick Henry right behind him at 83.6.
Heading into the Super Bowl Saquon averaged 122 rushing yards per game and one touchdown. So his total rushing yards over/under in the championship game was 112.5 and if you wanted to bet on Barkley finding the endzone the number was -185, or you had to lay down $185 to win $100.
Bettors Were Obsessed with Opportunities in Super Bowl 59
Any time bettors are obsessed with anything that should tell you which side to play on a game because 995 of the time the gen pop is wrong. The stats show that 80% of the planet rooted for the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59 but the majority of the country rooted for Philly. Barkley’s dominance was supposed to continue into the season finale in the mind of sports bettors: At ESPN BET, about 20% of all Super Bowl player prop wagers were on Barkley, more than Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce combined.
But while Barkley did a phenomenal job in helping his team get to its third Super Bowl in the last eight seasons, he had a relatively pedestrian game in New Orleans, rushing for just 57 yards on 25 carries, his second lowest rushing output of the season. He failed to find the end zone either. The rushing king did finish with 97 all-purpose yards as he hauled in six balls for 40 yards, but his rushing total came up well short of his rushing yards prop mark (112.5) and he didn’t find the endzone either which turned out to be a huge cash splash for sportsbooks from a props perspective, including for those in Nevada, who ultimately netted a record $22.1 million on the Super Bowl because of the Kansas City Chiefs string effort to keep Barkey from beating them. Unfortunately for K,C. he was the only thing they stopped that day as the Chiefs got the comeuppance, they so richly deserved with a 40-22 thumping that wasn’t even that close.
That also worked in the house’s favor as ESPN BET reported that nationally, more than 55% of the side action was on K,C. minus the 1.5 points.  So that meant more cash flow for the house as long as you were outside the friendly confines of the Keystone State where the house came tumbling down to the tune of $6.5 million as 73% of the Commonwealth locals bet the Birds and took the 1.5 points.
Not the Brightest Bulbs in the Drawer
This was an epic year for the high-flying Birds as they slowly but surely became the most compelling story in the NFL this season with a curious vibe that made people want to bet huge money on or against them for no legitimate reason. It was a season that saw some of the biggest single game side plays upwards of $3.1 million dollars.
In early December, a Kentucky bettor at Circa Sports placed a $3.1 million bet on the Eagles money line (-700) to beat the Panthers, believed to be one of the largest bets in NFL regular season history. I think the guy used most of his winnings to pay for a heart transplant because he had to watch Carolina’s wide receiver Xavier Legette drop a touchdown pass with less than a minute left to play for the Birds to hang on to a six-point victory which resulted in a $3.1 million dollar infusion for the economy of the Blue Grass State.
Just weeks before that, a bettor at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas placed a $1 million wager on the Los Angeles Rams as three-point underdogs against the Eagles. I think that guy would prefer to never hear the name Saquon Barkley again because his 255 rushing yards and 302 all-purpose yards were both Eagles’ team records as the Birds routed the Rams 37-20. Dude really? Of the 14 games played weekly you can’t find a better play to lay 10 Bricks on? How about the Bucs at Giants that day. Baker Mayfield vs Tommy Devito? Bucs were laying 6 at Met Life. 30-7 was the final or how about the Lions laying 2.5 at Indy? Detroit won 24-6 and went on to win 16 games last season. No? None of those games did it for ya? If you thought it was a prudent idea to lay 10 Bricks on a 5-6 team versus a team that was on a six-game winning streak then you deserve to have your ass handed to you by 17 points, while the team you bet on had 12 less total yards than the other team’s running back alone that night. Nice game.
A bettor from Bet MGM laid a cool $800,000 on the Eagles money line for Super Bowl 59; DraftKings reported a $500,000 bet backing Philly in the title game. Both cashed big!
Chiefs Fatigue a Myth
Now if you’re wondering where most of the hearts of football fans around the globe lied back on February 9th here you go:
There are officially 195 countries on the planet that self-govern with 31 others who don’t, so 226 countries is the total number of countries for this particular poll conducted by Flashpicks.com and here were their findings (keep in mind the electoral college was not used in calculating a winner here).
Eighty percent of the world rooted for the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59. To break that down, 181 countries were red to just 45 green, signifying Birds countries.
The Chiefs receive on average a staggering 8.7 million Google searches each month worldwide, since the NFL’s 2024 season started until game time of the Super Bowl, which is what the study was based on.
The Chiefs also have the backing of the US, with a whopping 7.4 million Google searches each month which dwarfed the Eagles backing of just 4 million searches. They’re also incredibly popular on either side of the US border, in both Canada and Mexico, where fans search for them on average 301,000 times a month.
In Europe, itâs Germany who are rooting for the Kansas City side the most, with 135,000 monthly searches. The UK are also big fans of the Chiefs, with 110,000 monthly searches.
In comparison, the Philadelphia Eagles have the support of just 45 countries in the world, making up less than 20% of the global support.
The Eagles receive on average 4.4 million Google searches each month across the planet, the majority of which comes from the US, where they receive 4 million average searches per month.
Although the Eagles had huge support in Canada, with 90,500 average searches per month and Mexico, with 74,000 searches per month, they were not as popular as the Chiefs in any of the top 30 countries worldwide.
Jordan was found to be the nation with the most 700 level boosters when it came to solidarity for Eagles Nation, with an extra 60 searches on average each month for Philadelphia than Kansas City. Bahrain, Djibouti, Libya, and Sierra Leone were all also found to be rooting for the Eagles over the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59.
Commenting on the research before the game, Callum Broxton, Head of Operations at FlashPicks said: âThe global support for the Kansas City Chiefs ahead of Super Bowl LIX is truly remarkable, with over 80% of the world backing the Kansas City side and nearly double the monthly search interest compared to the Eagles. However, it will be fascinating to see if this global momentum translates to success on the field come game day.â  Um, Callum, if you were trying to be witty or insightful or charming, you whiffed mightily on all three counts there bra. You’re obviously a corporate number cruncher and I’m sorry about that but I think it’s still best to stay in your lane.
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