Why Eagles RB Saquon Barkley is Bored in Philly

A pparently Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown isn’t the only member of the team that has a library card.  His teammate running back Saquon Barkley admits that he too has reached for the self-help literature and credits it for his success. 

Before he made the Philadelphia area his home and office this past spring, the NFL’s leading rusher, Barkley, had already begun his mental transformation derived from a book written by one of the city’s most famous super stars. (I really hope you weren’t thinking Rocky.  Look, we all love the Stallion but he was a fictional character whose loss to Apollo Creed in the first movie wreaked of a dive that opened the door for nine more sequels.)

I am referring to the late, great Laker guard, Kobe Bryant (who actually only lived in the suburbs of Philly for four years and has credited his work ethic from his time living abroad in Italy in his formative years, but hey work with me here).

Barkley credits a lot of his success to the book “Mamba Mentality”, that he read back in 2018, which is the phrase that one Kobe Bean Bryant made his life mantra, including his self-imposed nickname, The Black Mamba.

 “He always talked about wanting to be the greatest, winning a Super Bowl, legacy,” says Jarvis Miller, Saquon’s college roommate and one of Barkley’s closest friends. “And it all started with that mindset.”

Still, Barkley said yesterday, as he and his Eagles team continue to prepare for Super Bowl 59 against the Chiefs this Sunday in New Orleans, that his adoption of that mindset evolved over time.  The body embedded in the Mamba mindset was as “being the best version of yourself” and “a constant quest to get better today than you were yesterday.” 

Mind Is What Matters

Earlier into his Mamba training and transformation,  Barkley said he focused more on out-working everyone, physically, with his legendary workouts.  But over time the Birds’ star running back began to understand that the process of being a champion begins in the head.  If one can master the principles of excellence in that one square foot of real estate above the shoulders, the body will follow.  

“Just trying to adapt to that mindset, adapt to that mentality,” Barkley says. “I don’t think of the Mamba Mentality as this dog, this killer, and it is, but the definition is a constant quest to be the best version of yourself. It’s every day. It’s not like I go out there and break an 80-yard touchdown against the Rams, and that’s my Mamba moment. But, in reality, that didn’t just happen. It’s the process. The work you put in…“My best year of preparation and process and trying to dive into that mentality was this year.”

Being A Champion Is Boring

Excellence is boring but the great ones understand this and go through the mundane process every day.  It’s a grind but that’s what champions do and its who they are.  They’re true grinders. If you focus on the process the results will follow.  That’s what Kobe did and that’s what Barkley does and the results speak for themselves.

Before Bryant’s tragic death in 2020, he and Barkley forged a relationship through sport.

Barkley writes the phrase  ‘Mamba Mentality’ on his cleats before practices and games and also sports an earring of the genre signifying the attitude of which that makes him special.  

And why do we deem athletes like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes special?  Because they make their bones in the fourth quarter or overtime, legendary in their no-panic execution in the waning moments of big games.

In just his first season with the Eagles, Barkley became the Birds’ erasure of adversity in 2024.  When the Eagles have been tied or trailing this season, Barkley has rushed for 725 yards and scored eight total touchdowns. 

During the regular season, 578 of Barkley’s yards and six of his 13 touchdowns came in the fourth quarter. 

Yet, somehow, Barkley elevated his game to loftier heights in the playoffs. He rushed for 442 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 6.7 yards per carry in the Eagles’ three playoff victories. 

All told Saquon Barkley became only the ninth 2,000-yard rusher in NFL history. Entering Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup against Kansas City, Barkley is just 30 yards from breaking Terrell Davis’ 1998 record of 2,447 yards in the regular season and the postseason combined.

“He is motivated when someone or something says, ‘You can’t,’” Charles Huff, one of Barkley’s college coaches at Penn State said. “He is motivated by, you know, ‘I bet you can’t hit this three-pointer.’ ‘Yes, I can.’ It’s not vindictive to prove anyone wrong, it’s more to show you that he can. .

“And for him, it’s more of through actions than through words. OK, if you don’t think I run inside zone well, I’ve got to work on running inside zone. If you don’t think I catch the ball out of the backfield, well, I’m going to work on catching the ball out of the backfield.”

Huff, who is now the assistant head coach at Mississippi State, first saw Barkley’s obsession with precision while at Penn State, where Huff would hold competitions in meetings with offensive players over who could diagram plays most accurately. Barkley could stick the landing on small details on the white board, from the depth a receiver’s route, to the protections on the offensive line. Only quarterbacks were required to know that level of detail. 

“And that was the moment you’re like, ‘OK, this kid gets it…He could care less if he carried the ball every play or no play, as long as the team wins, you know. And I think that’s why he was so affected by the decision that New York made, because he gave a lot for the team, and he gave a lot for the organization and a lot for the city and the community and, you know, just like any of us, when you get those things and you don’t get the return, it’s kind of like, you know, you feel slighted a little bit so, but that’s who he is. He’s extremely humble. He is extremely competitive. He wants to be the best. He will work his tail off to be the best.”

A win for the Eagles on Sunday and he will be the best.

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