Eagles star is named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year

He was the first player in Philadelphia Eagles history to win the award.

It’s NEW ORLEANS. Saquon Barkley’s season kept going when he was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday night.

The running back for the Eagles got 35 first-place votes, making him the first Eagles player to ever win the award. Twelve people chose Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as the winner. Ravens running back Derrick Henry, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, and Bills quarterback Josh Allen each got one first-place vote.

A message from your NFL OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR 🔊@saquon | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/YmrEDs7QGA

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 7, 2025

After being cut by the New York Giants after six seasons, Barkley is having the best season in NFL history. It is his first season in Philadelphia after being sent there. It was only the ninth time in NFL history that a player ran for more than 2,000 yards in a regular season. He also scored 13 touchdowns.

Nineteen of his touchdown runs were 60 yards or more. That’s more than any other player in NFL history and three more than the next player in the standings. There were four touchdowns of 60 yards or more scored by Jim Brown and Adrian Peterson.

If you count the playoffs, Barkley has gained 2,447 yards on the ground this season, 30 yards short of passing Terrell Davis for the most in an NFL season ever. The running back has gained 2,760 yards, just three more than Davis’s record for the most yards in a season in league history (including playoffs). As of now, only Barkley and Davis have rushed for 400 yards or more and scored five or more touchdowns in a single playoff game. Also, he needs just 138 yards to pass Darren Sproles (2,897) for the most all-purpose yards in a single season (including playoffs).

Eric Dickerson ran for 2,105 yards in 1984, which was the most in a single season in the league. However, he did not win either the Most Valuable Player or Offensive Player of the Year award that year. Both awards went to Dan Marino, quarterback for the Dolphins.

ED KRACZ

Since 1996, Ed Kracz has written about Philadelphia sports. For more than a decade, he has been writing full-time about the Eagles. In 2008 and 2009, he wrote about the Phillies in the World Series. In 2010, he wrote about the Flyers’ run to the Stanley Cup finals. In 2017, he was in Minnesota when the Eagles won their first Super Bowl. As a sports reporter, Ed has won a lot of writing awards, including several top five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.