ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
For fans of an underdog story, next month's Super Bowl might not be the matchup they were hoping for. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles are both perennial winners. But some are finding solace in rooting for one Philadelphia player who's having the season of a lifetime after a change of scenery. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: On Sunday, all it took was one touch of the football for Saquon Barkley to leave his mark on the NFC Championship Game.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Yelling, inaudible).
SULLIVAN: Down 3 to 0 to the Washington Commanders, the Eagles' offense came out for their first play of the game - a toss to their new star running back. Barkley broke a couple of tackles, then took it 60 yards to the house, and the Eagles never trailed again.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting, inaudible).
SULLIVAN: Barkley has been a revelation this season for Philadelphia. He's having the best year of his career by far - more than 2,000 rushing yards in the regular season. And in the playoffs here, he has five touchdowns - three of them on breakaway runs of 60 yards or longer. That's history book stuff. His teammates, like offensive lineman Lane Johnson, see it up close every week, and even they're blown away.
LANE JOHNSON: He's fun. It's like when I used to play Madden. I just tossed to Barry Sanders, and, you know, a lot of good stuff would happen. So no, man - he's a hell of a player. And he's got a big heart. And so - yeah, man, we play hard for him, and he's a great teammate.
SULLIVAN: The success has been a long time coming for Barkley, who's now in his seventh year in the NFL. He was born in New York City, then picked second overall in the NFL draft by a hometown team, the New York Giants. And there, he was stellar from the get-go, loved by teammates and fans alike.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: And Barkley takes it all the way - 68 yards for his first NFL touchdown.
SULLIVAN: But in his six years in New York, the Giants never fielded a truly competitive team. They lost almost twice as many games as they won. And even though Barkley was the team's biggest star, there wasn't much to savor, and even he acknowledged that last week.
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SAQUON BARKLEY: You might have media deals. You might have commercials. You might have follows on IG. But at the end of day, the only thing that matters is how you compete as a team. And if you don't have a great team, it don't matter. You won't be successful. And I think I'm a prime example of that right now.
SULLIVAN: Barkley's contract with the Giants was up after last season. Usually for NFL teams, it's bad business to let your best player walk, but the Giants did. And not only that, they did it on TV.
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SULLIVAN: The HBO docuseries, "Hard Knocks" followed the Giants' front office last spring. And the biggest headline for the show was what would happen with Barkley. Was he getting too old, too prone to injury? Would it be worth resigning him?
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JOE SCHOEN: I think - just mulling over this - the right thing to do is let you test the market and see what your value is.
SULLIVAN: This is Giants General Manager Joe Schoen on the phone with Barkley, telling him, good luck out there. Later, team owner John Mara worries about where Barkley might end up - the worst-case scenario being divisional rival, the Philadelphia Eagles.
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JOHN MARA: I'm going to have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philly, I'll tell you that.
SULLIVAN: Fast-forward 10 months, to Sunday night, and Barkley's celebrating with his two young daughters in the Eagles-colored confetti after the game. Later, as his new teammates partied in the locker room, the soft-spoken Barkley said his success this year was what he had expected from himself all along.
BARKLEY: You know, I've always known who I am. I always know the type of player I will become. Sometimes it takes longer than others. You know what I mean? I didn't envision it taking seven years, or I didn't envision even being Philly. You know, I thought he would be able to accomplish that with New York. But no time is better than God's time, so I've got to take advantage of it.
SULLIVAN: He's allowing himself a couple of days to take it all in. Then it'll be time to switch gears, he says. After all, he and the Eagle still have one more game this season - next month's Super Bowl against Kansas City. Becky Sullivan, NPR News, Philadelphia.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOO $HORT SONG, "BLOW THE WHISTLE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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