There Are Reasons Why Eagles Might Not Trade Saquon Barkley

As we get closer to the NFL trade deadline, the Philadelphia Eagles' biggest focus continues to be what they plan to do with Saquon Barkley.

Other teams around the league certainly hope Barkley will be available, as there's a strong argument that he could be a difference-maker for any contending team.

At the same time, it's also important to recognize some of the problems that we've seen from Barkley over the past year or so. It would be unfair not to mention his injuries at this point, as they've continued to be a problem this year.

Barkley has a very good chance to bounce back and become the player that everybody knows he can be, but the past year and a half or so certainly haven't been kind to him in terms of production and injuries. 

Other factors go into that, including how bad the Eagles' offense has been at times, but it's still something that will be held against him and the Eagles if they decide to move him.

As for the latest trade rumors, an ESPN insider suggested it's not guaranteed that Barkley will be traded. There are a couple of reasons, and it sounds like part of it is that teams around the league might not want to pay him what he's owed in 2027 and 2028, and that he's also dealing with injuries.

“The big name that everyone will want to know about is Saquon Barkley, but (A) he's clearly injured right now, even though he tried playing through it Monday night and (B) he's a running back who turns 30 in February and is due to make $16 million in 2027 and $19.2 million in 2028. 

“As of now, the only guarantee of that future money is $2.5 million in 2027. If Barkley shows he's healthy in the next couple of weeks, it's possible a team would take a shot on him as the potential answer to its run game issues. But it's never a guarantee with running backs that the team trading them gets enough in return to justify the deal,” Dan Graziano wrote.

In a sense, it's tough to disagree with what Graziano is saying here. However, if teams believe Barkley can return to the form he's been in for most of his career, those figures are more than fair to pay him. 

It all comes down to whether teams think he can get healthy at the right moment and what the price might be. If the Eagles are looking for some outrageous trade package, they likely aren't going to find that at this year's deadline.