How Saquon Barkley’s season stacks up against the greatest by any Eagles player ever

Saquon Barkley is authoring a legendary Eagles season, so where does he stack up among the greatest Eagles seasons ever?

Sunday’s match-up between the Ravens and Eagles was significant not only because it featured two of the NFL’s heavyweights going at it in a nationally-televised game in the late-afternoon window, but also as a barometer for two of this year’s leading MVP candidates.

Saquon Barkley and Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson have been at or near the top of the MVP odds for most of the last few months and, on Sunday, we got to see them go head-to-head. By the end of a Birds’ 24-19 victory that was not as close as the score would indicate, Barkley has undoubtedly moved ahead of the Ravens’ signal caller in the race for Most Valuable Player.

No player in franchise history has ever won the AP NFL MVP award, although some have come close. Below is a list of all Eagles players to earn at least one MVP vote since 1960.

• 2022: Jalen Hurts (2nd)
• 2017: Carson Wentz (3rd)
• 2000: Donovan McNabb (2nd)
• 1991: Seth Joyner (5th)
• 1990: Randall Cunningham (2nd)
• 1988: Randall Cunningham (2nd)
• 1980: Ron Jaworski (4th)
• 1979: Harold Carmichael (6th)
• 1979: Wilbert Montgomery (8th)
• 1965: Pete Retzlaff (4th)
• 1961: Sonny Jurgensen (3rd)

Barkley will undoubtedly be in the conversation this year, although he faces stiff competition from Jackson and Buffalo QB Josh Allen, the presumptive favorite at the moment. It would likely take a near-record breaking season from Barkley to earn the MVP nod, but regardless of whether he wins or not, he is already authoring one of the greatest single seasons in franchise history.

So where does it rank? Here’s my list:

10. (tie) 2018 Zach Ertz

Carson Wentz’ favorite target (something that became a bit of an issue inside the locker room among some of the wide receivers) hauled in a team-record 116 passes, 10 more than what had been the previous team-high of 90 by Brian Westbrook in 2007. Ertz also scored eight touchdowns and averaged 10 yards per catch. We don’t remember it much because the ‘18 season was so weird (Wentz hurt again, Nick Foles emerges for a second straight playoff run), but it was a wildly productive season by the best tight end in team history.

10. (tie) 2007 Brian Westbrook

I had to include at least one Westbrook season here and I chose 2007 because it produced the second-most yards from scrimmage in team history. His 1,333 rushing yards and 771 yards receiving game him a total of 2,104 from scrimmage and earned him the only 1st-team All Pro nod of his career in an otherwise lost season.

10. (tie) 1992 Clyde Simmons

I’m sure there’s a Brian Dawkins season you could throw in the mix here, but it’s hard to argue against Clyde Simmons and his 19 sacks in the ‘92 season. Sure, he benefitted from the monster that was Reggie White at times, but Simmons was a beast in his own right. And in ‘92, he put it all together.

9. 1983 Mike Quick

The ‘83 Eagles started 4-2 and then lost seven straight, finishing with a 5-11 record, the first season under head coach Marion Campbell, who replaced Dick Vermeil following his resignation due to burnout. Lost in all that was the star-making season of Quick, who piled up 1,409 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. Until A.J. Brown’s 2022 and ‘23 seasons, Quick held the team record for receiving yards in a season, and his 13 TDs is second-most in one year. Most fans today know Quick as a broadcaster and forget he was one of the most dynamic receivers in football in the 1980s.

8. 2024 Saquon Barkley

If Barkley continues on the path he’s on, he’ll rocket into the top-three. As for now, he’s already had one of the 10 best seasons in team history. With 1,499 yards on the ground through 12 games, Barkley is just 108 yards from topping LeSean McCoy’s single-season record of 1,607. He also needs just 501 yards over his final five games to cross the 2,000 mark, and 606 yards behind Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 yard rushing total in 1984. Barkley would need to average 122 yards per game over his final five games to break it. He may need to do that to lock down NFL MVP honors this year.

7. 2013 LeSean McCoy

McCoy’s 1,607 rushing yards and 2,146 total yards from scrimmage remains the franchise record, for now. He averaged 100.4 rushing yards per game and led the league in attempts, yards, total touches from scrimmage and total yards from scrimmage, earning him his second 1st-team All Pro nod at running back, a season that included his all-time performance in the Snow Game. Oh, what might have been had Chip Kelly not sent him packing following the 2014 season.

6. 2000 Donovan McNabb

There have been just four instances in which an Eagles player has finished as close as 2nd place in the MVP voting, and McNabb’s breakout 2000 season was one of them. The passing numbers weren’t gaudy: 3,365 yards passing, 21 TDs, 13 INTs, but his running ability made him a truly unique player. He ran for 629 yards and 6 TDs and helped deliver the Eagles from a 4-12 season in 1999 to an 11-5 wild card berth. It was an electric season that launched a borderline Hall of Fame career.

5. 2017 Carson Wentz

There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that, had Wentz’s season not ended after throwing four touchdowns against the Rams in Week 13, he would currently be the only AP MVP in team history. Up until tearing his knee, Wentz was at the helm of one of the greatest regular seasons in team history, piling up 3,296 passing yards with 33 TDs and 7 INTs, with a QB rating of 101.9. He was a Houdini in the pocket, with athleticism that made him a dangerous scrambler and runner. It was one of the most ridiculously exciting QB performances in team history, and he would never match that level of play again.

4. 2004 Terrell Owens

Owens’ emergence as the long-sought No. 1 receiver the team needed over the first five years of the Andy Reid/McNabb era, his presence catapulted both he and McNabb to their best seasons ever. He still holds the team lead in touchdown receptions (14), achieved in only 14 games (he missed the final two games of the regular season and first two playoff games with a torn knee). He likely would have set the franchise receiving yards record had he not gotten hurt, but still finished with 1200 yards on 77 receptions. His impact on a team that started 13-1 with him in the lineup, clinching the top spot in the NFC, cannot be undersold.

3. 1990 Randall Cunningham

For the second time in three years, Cunningham finished runner-up in the MVP voting and put together his greatest season as an Eagle. At a time when the run game was more valued than passing, Cunningham threw for 3,466 yards, 6th-most in the NFL, but also added 942 rushing yards, which was 9th-most in the league. He helmed the third-best offense in football in terms of total yards and points. Unfortunately, for the third straight year, Cunningham failed to win a playoff game, ending Buddy Ryan’s tenure in Philadelphia.

2. 2022 Jalen Hurts

Wall-to-wall, Hurts’ 2022 season was the best ever by an Eagles quarterback. He put up a 101.5 passer rating. He threw for 3,701 yards and 22 TDs. He threw just 6 INTs. He ran for another 760 yards and scored 13 TDs on the ground. He got hurt late in the year and missed two of the final three games, but shined in playoff blowout victories over the Giants and 49ers, then proceeding to put together one of the greatest Super Bowl performances in NFL history, culminating in a late-4th quarter TD drive and heroic two-point coversion, albeit in a loss to Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs. He finished runner-up in the MVP voting that year and came within a whisker of taking home the Lombardi Trophy.

1. 1987 Reggie White

For those of you not around for Reggie White’s prime, his dominance was unlike anything we had seen from a defensive end, and in 1987, White re-wrote the record books. Signed by the Eagles after the collapse of the USFL in 1985, White joined the Birds midway through that season and, in ‘87, entered his third year with the team, a strike-altered year that saw the real players go on strike for five weeks in the middle of the season. Three of those games were played with scab players, meaning White played in just 12 games that year. He piled up 21 sacks in 12 games for an NFL-record 1.75 sacks per game.

It is simply unfathomable for a defensive player to average 1.75 sacks per game. It is a feat that will never be repeated, even though White pulled this feat off playing in an era when passing offenses were a smaller percentage of overall play calls.

It is, hands-down, the greatest single-season effort in franchise history, and it will never be topped.