Paul Higham

BBC Sport journalist

Free agent signings in the NFL often promise a lot more than they deliver. Paying free agent running backs big money has always been a huge gamble and has often been a big mistake.

Saquon Barkley has proved to be the biggest and best exception to those common business rules in the league, having compiled one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.

On Sunday he gets the chance to cap it all with a Super Bowl win when his Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans.

Barkley’s brilliance this season has also shaken up the notion that running backs were expendable, purely benefits of the system and easily replaceable – as he’s been probably the biggest x-factor in the entire NFL.

Some slight injury concerns and some major financial issues meant the New York Giants allowed him to leave in free agency last summer and join their big rivals the Eagles.

What followed was an MVP-calibre season filled with highlight-reel runs, records smashed and a career year that will culminate on Sunday.

Super Bowl Sunday, coincidentally, just happens to be Barkley’s 28th birthday. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

After six seasons in New York, the former second overall draft pick joined the Eagles on a three-year, $38m (£30.6m) deal.

The Eagles started the season playing the first NFL regular season game in Brazil. The big question against the Green Bay Packers was if Barkley was worth that money.

Cue 132 total yards and three touchdowns on his Eagles debut. Question answered – emphatically.

From there he became just the ninth player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, and the Giants were only spared the ignominy of their former star breaking Eric Dickerson’s long-standing rushing record against them as he was rested for the final game of the season.

He finished the regular season with 2,005 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns with a further 278 receiving yards and two scores, and has added a further 442 rushing yards and five touchdowns when lighting up the play-offs.

Barkley will no doubt break two more records in the Super Bowl. With 2,447 he needs 30 rushing yards to surpass the great Terrell Davis for the most in a season, including the play-offs, and at 2,760 total yards he’s just two behind Davis’ current benchmark.

Only Davis and Barkley have managed over 400 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns in one play-off campaign.

The general numbers are hugely impressive, but it’s the nature of the threat Barkley brings and the timing of that threat that makes him a true asset.

Barkley is what they call a ‘home run hitter’, meaning he can break off an explosive long run at any given moment – from the first minute to the last – thanks to his freakish combination of strength and speed.

He has an NFL record seven touchdown runs of 60 yards or more this season, which is three more than anyone else has ever managed in a single campaign.

Barkley has produced three of these runs in this year’s play-offs alone. No other player has run for three 60-yard touchdowns in the play-offs in their entire career.

He scored with his first touch of the NFC Championship against Washington and completed his hat-trick in the fourth quarter. He scored in the first and fourth quarters against the Los Angeles Rams.

Barkley scored highlight-reel touchdowns from 60, 62 and 78 yards, but also added two from four yards out as his lateral quickness adds yet another weapon to his rushing arsenal.

You can bottle him up for large periods, but you cannot keep him down – he can score from anywhere at any time. The Eagles are not a one-man team by any means, but make no mistake about it – Barkley is their x-factor.

In short, money. Giants general manager Joe Schoen famously did not want to pay what Barkley was asking as the team had handed out a $160m (£129m) deal to quarterback Daniel Jones.

Instead, Schoen wanted to spend the salary cap budget on protecting Jones. Sadly for Schoen, the decision was made in front of the TV cameras filming the popular documentary series Hard Knocks.

“Daniel is making a lot of money,” Schoen now infamously said. “We’ve got to figure out if he’s the guy. So, we’ve got to protect him, we’ve got to put resources there.

“You’re paying the guy $40m. It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12m back.”

Not only did this play out in public, but Barkley then joined their divisional rivals and is now on the verge of Super Bowl glory and an all-world season.

And for extra salt in the wounds, Jones was then released by the Giants in November after proving he was very much not their guy.

Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman had no hesitation in handing Barkley what equates to around $12.6m (£10.2m) a season – the third highest amount for a current running back.

“It was not a hard trigger to pull,” said Roseman. “I’d like to say he’s exceeded expectations, but he’s always been one of the best players I’ve ever seen.

“So I’m really not surprised by any of this, and I don’t say that in an arrogant way, it’s based on who he is, nothing to do with me, because this is who he’s always been. And I’m just glad everyone gets to see that.”

Derrick Henry had another huge season after signing for the Baltimore Ravens as a free agent running back, but does that mean more will follow suit?

Barkley and Henry are generational talents, and Barkley may well go down as one of the best ever once his time in Philadelphia is over.

Running backs are seen as replaceable as many believe they are only as good as the team around them – if their offensive line can open up space for them to run.

True, the Eagles have one of the best in the game, but Barkley finds holes where there are none, and he’s proven that a talent like his deserves to play on a team that can showcase it best.

Running backs may not suddenly become the go-to free agent signing, but Barkley was right to be paid – and on Sunday in New Orleans he could provide that one magical moment that makes all the difference.

If he does, it will be money very, very well spent.

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