Explaining Philly’s brotherly love for Eagles star Saquon Barkley

Philadelphia is getting soft in its old age, I swear. At no point in this town’s rich (and, yes, often lousy) sports history has a professional athlete won over Philly’s harsh fans as quickly, thoroughly, and delightfully as the Eagles’ speedy new dynamo, Saquon Rasul Quevis Barkley.

We took a stroll last Saturday afternoon to the eagle in the lobby at Macy’s — you may still call it Wanamakers — and then to Reading Terminal Market for lunch, and many replicas of Barkley’s No. 26 jersey, in kelly green and midnight green, were either being worn or for sale.

The NFL told me Barkley jerseys are, rather unsurprisingly, the No. 1 seller among Eagles merchandise at its online NFL Shop, and among the Top 10 sellers overall along with replicas of Jalen Hurts jerseys. The most popular Barkley jersey is the one in kelly green.

Barkley has had a gloriously memorable first season as a running back with the team, helping to power the Eagles to the Super Bowl, and those cool kelly green jerseys, which I think the Eagles should wear all the time, represent one-third of total sales of Eagles merchandise.

But to hear those who study the cultural impact of sports tell it, there is more to his dramatic surge in popularity than just his ability to bust those thrilling long touchdown runs — and, as a result, sell merch. Philly loves redemption stories, but Barkley’s is unique because he has shown he is still at the top of his game.

“We can all relate to someone who’s banged his head against the wall,” Joel Fish, a licensed psychologist who is the director of the Center of Sports Psychology in Philadelphia, tells me. “In football terms, he was let go. The Giants didn’t want him.”

Fish later added, “He’s been able to navigate to fit in, to be the center of attention where there already were centers of attention.”

Barkley already had ties with the Philadelphia area, having grown up outside Allentown and starring at Penn State University. That helps. But he could have grown up on Pattison Avenue across from Lincoln Financial Field and that wouldn’t have meant much if he weren’t this talented.

Philly loves redemption stories, but Barkley’s is unique because he has shown he is still at the top of his game.

The New York Giants, an archrival for 90 years who play a mere 96 miles up I-95, used their No. 2 overall pick to select him in the 2018 NFL draft. In six seasons, he missed 25 games because of injuries, and the Giants made the playoffs in only the 2022 season. They let him walk as a free agent because he was no longer worth as much money. Ah, but wait.

He is handsome, a pleasing commercial pitchman, and he is clearly a caring father to his two cute kids. He strikes Philadelphians as authentic. He wants to be here, not just to play for an elite NFL team, but as a representative of his adopted city, its sports scars notwithstanding.

Fish said of Philadelphians: “I do think we’re a little more forgiving and tempered to embrace a superstar, but you don’t have to scratch too far to unleash self-doubts and disappointment.”

Philadelphia has had other heralded sports newcomers make quick impacts. Julius Erving, whose rights were bought from the New York Nets for $3 million in 1976 and who was signed to a six-year contract worth (gasp) $3.5 million, led the 76ers to the 1977 NBA Finals.

The Sixers lost again in the finals in 1980 and 1982 before they acquired the relentless center Moses Malone. Erving and Malone promptly drove the Sixers to the NBA championship, its most recent. The late Pete Rose, the inimitable Charlie Hustle, helped the Phillies win the 1980 World Series in his second season in Philadelphia. But this feels different.

“His athleticism is thrilling to watch — when he leaps over other players (literally), it creates an emotional reaction in fans who witness it, whether in person or on-screen,” Lynn S. Zubernis, a professor and licensed psychologist at West Chester University, tells me of Barkley. “There’s research that shows that highly invested fans have similar physiological reactions when their favorite team wins as the actual players on the field. This may be a similar phenomenon.

“Combined with that natural talent, Barkley is also enjoyable to watch because of his outgoing personality. He smiles a lot, and it seems genuine. He’s passionate about what he does. He seems to genuinely enjoy interacting with others, whether they’re teammates or fans. He has a sense of humor and likes to joke around. All of those attributes are appealing.”

Philly loves team players. Barkley is authentic. When Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni asked Barkley — several times — if he wanted to return to an October game against the Giants to set a personal rushing record, Barkley told Sirianni, “I’d rather see the young boys eat.”

Barkley sat out the last game of the regular season to rest, even though the NFL single-season rushing record was within reach. When the rookie reserve Will Shipley scored a touchdown late in the 55-23 victory over the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game on Jan. 26 at the Linc, Barkley raced to the endzone to hug Shipley and escort him off the field.

“What is the cherry on top of the cake is that he obviously loves being a part of Philadelphia,” Fish said.

Barkley, who on Sunday will appear in his fourth playoff game with the Eagles (or already twice as many as six years with the Giants), clearly has benefited from the blocking provided by a gargantuan and punishing Eagles offensive line that is the best in the league.

After the big fellas provide a hole, Barkley often runs a long way. He had seven runs of more than 40 yards in the regular season, and in the playoffs had a game-clinching 78-yard TD sprint in the snow against the Los Angeles Rams, and a game-opening 60-yard TD run against Washington.

Although the Eagles will be playing in their third Super Bowl in seven years, this will be Barkley’s first, and he has approached this game as if he has appreciated what it takes to get to a title game — and he has acknowledged there are no guarantees he will play in another.

Also, remember last year, Fish said. After making it to the Super Bowl and losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Eagles started the 2023-24 season with 10 victories in 11 games — then fell apart, losing five of six, then a playoff game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The whole team has been seeking redemption.

The Eagles have made many smart changes, including to the coaching staff, since they beat the New England Patriots (and the evil Tom Brady) in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4, 2018. So this has hardly been a one-man tour de force. Barkley will say he has had lots of help.

Fish still places the Phillies who played on the 2008 World Championship team, guys like Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, at a higher level than Barkley, or Bryce Harper (0 for 1 as a Phillie in the World Series), in the city’s illustrious sports pantheon.

“I think getting to the Super Bowl and winning the Super Bowl would push him even more to a historical level,” Fish said of Barkley.

Then stroll through Center City and count the No. 26 Barkley jerseys, kelly or midnight green.

Dave Caldwell, who covered the Eagles as an Inquirer sports writer, grew up in Lancaster County, graduated from Temple University, and lives in Manayunk.