Travis Kelce blasts Saquon Barkley’s latest Eagles contract for being unreal

The pie continues to get sweeter for Saquon Barkley. After spending the first few years of his career on a team that struggled to win, he has gone on to win a Super Bowl in his first season after he was traded. The Philadelphia Eagles originally signed Barkley up for a three-year deal worth $37.75 million of which $26 was guaranteed. With bonuses, the deal had a maximum value of $46.75 million.

The Eagles were impressed with what they saw of him this year. If not for Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia would not have made it to the Super Bowl. A stellar 2,000-yard and 13-touchdown regular season and subsequent consistency in the playoffs convinced Howie Roseman that Barkley is one piece that they cannot afford to lose.

In lieu of his phenomenal year, the Eagles offered him an updated two-year deal worth $41.2 million with $36 million guaranteed and $15 million more tied up in incentives. The extension has made him the first running back to earn $20 million per year in the history of the NFL and makes the duration of his deal four years.

Barkley is fully deserving of this contract and the majority of his peers will agree. However, one man is not happy with how Philadelphia has structured his contract. That man happened to lose to Saquon and the Eagles in the Super Bowl, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. He expressed disappointment over a significant chunk of money being tied up as part of incentives.

Philadelphia has offered Saquon Barkley a purely performance-oriented contract

Here are the terms of his new contract to simplify things. Saquon Barkley will receive $15.08 million fully guaranteed as part of his 2025 bonus, his base salary for the year will be $1.17 million, and he stands to earn an additional $250,000 as part of his workout bonus. This is for the 2025-26 season. Now coming to the incentive part of the contract, the Eagles have set standards high for their running back.

Upon rushing for 1,500 yards, he stands to earn $250,000, and 2,000 yards will earn him $500,000. If Barkley qualifies for the Pro Bowl or second-team All-Pro, he earns another $250,000, and a first-team All-Pro qualification will earn him $500,000. There are playoff-linked incentives as well ranging from a quarter of a million dollars for an NFC Championship win to half a million upon a Super Bowl win.

The ceiling is high. However, some of the incentives such as the Pro Bowl and All-Pro are not completely in Barkley’s hands. He can perform great but ultimately, the verdict lies in the hands of the voters. Kelce has a fair point, from an athlete’s perspective, despite the overall value, a lot of it is linked to incentives.

However, from a team’s perspective, it acts as insurance. If the athlete performs then he is compensated accordingly but if he does not then there is no need to pay them that extra sum. The running back is happy with the deal and so are the Eagles. Ultimately, that is all that matters.

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