Eagles' A.J. Brown Hypes Up Saquon Barkley After Viral Giants 'Hard Knocks' Video

The New York Giants may have inadvertently provided some additional motivation to one of their NFC East rivals ahead of the 2024 season.

Philadelphia Eagles wideout A.J. Brown vowed to "do everything in my power to make sure you get yours fam," referring to Saquon Barkley and a viral video that went around from the premiere episode of the Giants on the offseason edition of Hard Knocks that debuted Tuesday night.

In the video recorded earlier this offseason, members of the Giants front office are seen talking about how unlikely it is they would be able to trade Barkley for any significant value if they were to use the franchise tag on him:

There was another moment in the episode when Giants general manager Joe Schoen is seen talking to Frank Gore and agent Malki Kawa, who represents Indianapolis Colts star Jonathan Taylor, about data that shows running backs decline after the age of 27.

Barkley, who spent the first six years of his career with the Giants, turned 27 on Feb. 9.

In defense of the Giants, the video does end with Schoen acknowledging "all of the needs we have" on the roster as a reason not to run the risk of tagging Barkley to get minimal return in a trade.

If the Giants had used the franchise tag on Barkley for a second straight year, he would have been owed $12.1 million on the one-year tender in 2024.

The Athletic's Dan Duggan noted on March 5 that one NFL executive projected Barkley's value between $8 to $10 million per season, with the possibility for some inflation in the later years of the deal to make it look like $12 million annually.

That's basically the contract Barkley got from the Eagles. The deal is for $37.8 million over three years with $26 million fully guaranteed. Philadelphia can get out of it after two years having paid out $24.5 million.

It's notable the Eagles were the team to sign Barkley because general manager Howie Roseman has generally not regarded the running-back position as one worth pouring significant resources into.

Some of that came during a period when the team had arguably the best offensive line in the NFL and could create running lanes for seemingly any player, regardless of their actual talent level.

Things will be different for the club this season after star center Jason Kelce, who started 167 consecutive games between the regular season and playoffs dating back to Week 9 of the 2014 campaign, retired during the offseason.

The rest of the offensive line is still in good shape, but Kelce was often in charge of calling out protections and taking control at the line of scrimmage before the ball was snapped.

Rather than try to find a direct replacement for everything Kelce did, the Eagles signed Barkley to make life easier for the offensive line and quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Barkley had 1,242 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns in 14 games last season for a Giants team that ranked in the bottom 10 in the NFL in ESPN's pass-block and run-block win rate metrics.

Another thing that will help Barkley find space is playing in an offense with Brown. The superstar wideout has racked up more than 1,400 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons with the Eagles.