Philadelphia Eagles Saquon Barkley was a guest of honor for the United Disabilities Service Foundation’s gala at Lancaster Marriott, where he had a VIP meet-and-greet, a live auction to raise money for the non-profit and a fireside chat with Eagles insider Dave Spadaro. During the chat, among other things, Barkley made another revelation regarding a topic he was discussing for the umpteenth time: his moment of the season–the famous reverse leap against Jacksonville Jaguars in November.
It was first announced in December 2024, that Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley, would be a guest of honour alongside Eagles insider Dave Spadaro, as the organization held its 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Gala, celebrating 60 years of empowering lives.
The organization had invited Barkey because of his dedication to excellence and community impact and for him being a source of inspiration on and off the pitch.
It was his first visit in Lancaster and he undoubtedly enjoyed every minute of his brief visit. During his appearance, he sat with Eagles insider Dave Spadaro to have a chat on his career, his inspiration, the Eagles’ Super Bowl Championship season, and of course, his famous reverse leap against the Jaguars in November.
Discussing a moment many agree to be his highlight of the season, Barkley shockingly revealed that he was hurting from a “good shot” by a defensive tackle.
“I was hurting actually,” the running back said. “When I landed, one big defensive tackle took a good shot at me and my back kind of locked up. So, I didn’t in the moment get to realize what happened.”
Barkley had one of the most memorable debut seasons in NFL history, as he was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for a franchise-record 2,005 yards—101 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season league record.
He also ran for an NFL record 2,504 yards in both the regular season and the playoffs, breaking Terrell Davis’ record of 2,476. He made such a huge difference in the Eagles team with his 15 touchdowns, including seven on runs of at least 60 yards. Unsurprisingly, he accorded all of these to his competitive spirit.
“It came naturally,” he said. “For me, it came naturally, because a lot of guys like to compete and a lot of guys like to play golf. I’m not great at golf, but I’m good at competing. And I just came from the mindset of ‘We have all these leaders and all these great players, Lane (Johnson) and AJ (Brown), working out. What can I bring to the team?’”
“The best thing that I do is compete. So when you compete and show people that I might have the accolades or have this name, but I’m willing to put the work in, you kind of just gain that respect naturally.”
With the team, he also spoke about the most outstanding moment in their regular season run, where everything changed for the better. It was in a meeting they had during their bye week that led to their impressive turnaround.
“We were 2-2; 2-2 in Philadelphia is not acceptable. I’ve learned that. But we had a moment during the bye week where we kind of all came together as a team, stated in our minds that we’re super-talented, that we’re too good to lose games, and it was a cool moment, because all of us came together as a group, as a whole, and we just ripped off 10 straight (wins). That was probably the most memorable thing.. And without that moment that wasn’t on TV, we wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl.”
Before he was sent off roars of the E-A-G-L-E-S chant an a standing ovation, he signed a football, a helmet and a jersey that were auctioned for a sum of $45,000 to the highest bidders.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
