Eagles’ Saquon Barkley still has friends on the Giants, but ‘Sunday is war’ when he returns to MetLife Stadium

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was a Wednesday before a Sunday game, the first day of the game week reporters have access to NFL locker rooms, which means it’s officially Saquon Barkley Week here, where Barkley won the 2018 rookie of the year award and, in six seasons with the New York Giants, became the franchise’s fourth-leading rusher.

His departure from the Giants played out publicly on HBO’s Hard Knocks. A multiyear contract dispute ended with Barkley doing the thing that Giants owner John Mara said would lead to restless sleeping. Barkley signed with the rival Eagles for three years and $37.75 million. His return to MetLife Stadium is Sunday, and if Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence had his way, the questions about his friend returning to his old stadium would end Wednesday.

Lawrence, whom Barkley called the best defensive player in the league on Wednesday back in Philadelphia, was drafted by the Giants the year after Barkley. The running back is now one of Lawrence’s best friends, he said Wednesday. In late June, just a few months after he left the Giants for their NFC East foe, Barkley attended Lawrence’s wedding in North Carolina.

Football is business. Friends are friends. And this, Barkley’s return to the Meadowlands, is just another game.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Saquon Barkley says he doesn’t have anything to prove vs. Giants and focuses on a rivalry win

“It’s not as built up as the media makes it,” Lawrence said. “We’re human, and we have to make choices in life just like if you got a raise, you’d go somewhere to get your raise. It’s just what you got to do, make business decisions.

“I don’t understand why it’s a big deal for him to go make himself happy or do what makes himself happy. At the end of the day, we’re human. We’re people. He did what’s best for him, and I’m going to be happy for him regardless.”

Lawrence isn’t alone. Barkley also is close friends with Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. The two have stayed in contact, though this week they seem to be keeping their distance so far. Jones chuckled when asked if that was some sort of unwritten ground rule when it comes to friendly football players.

“I don’t know. It’s competition this week,” he said. “It’s time to go. It’ll be different at first, but just another usual game.”

Barkley after Week 1 was open about reaching out to Jones after the quarterback threw two interceptions and was sacked five times in a blowout loss. Like Lawrence, Jones was drafted in the first round in 2019, a year after Barkley. Jones said Barkley helped him “a ton” as he navigated his first few NFL seasons. They hung out at the facility and away from it.

“I have a ton of respect and appreciation for who he is as a person,” Jones said.

Will Giants fans?

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley Q&A: From his favorite Penn State traditions to his desire to be ‘the next Michael Strahan’

Barkley doesn’t expect to be booed by his old fans Sunday. But Jones maybe isn’t as naive.

“If I had to guess, probably not warmly,” Jones said when asked how he thinks fans will welcome Barkley. “It’s a competitive game. It’s the Eagles vs. the Giants, big divisional game. There’s a lot going on outside of Saquon Barkley being back.”

Jones said it was “important to keep in mind” that Barkley “did a lot” for the Giants and was a well-liked teammate and leader in the locker room.

“I think he did a lot of good for this organization,” Lawrence said. “But we’ve got some tough fans, and they’re going to bring him in however they feel is right by them. I appreciate what he did for this organization and who he was as a teammate and person to me, most importantly. But Sunday is war, and he knows that.”

As for the on-field stuff, the Giants are still struggling offensively. With Barkley last season, they scored 15.6 points per game. This season, they’re scoring 16, but they are moving the ball more, posting about 40 more total yards per game than the 280 they averaged last season, which was good for 29th in the NFL.

The Eagles, meanwhile, are loving having Barkley. While he was bottled up by the Browns during Sunday’s win, Barkley ranks third in rushing yards per game (96.4) and has five of the Eagles’ 12 touchdowns through five games.

» READ MORE: Ahead of their matchup with the Giants, Eagles players reflect on their own personal football rivalries

Lawrence, who is second in the NFL with seven sacks and has the second-highest Pro Football Focus grade for rush defense among interior linemen, has rarely gotten the opportunity to tackle Barkley, though he knows that can be difficult.

“He’s gotten better over the years, even through his injuries, knowing how to take a tackle or break a tackle in a different type of way,” Lawrence said. “Now, it’s more finesse than it was early, when it was more power.”

Is he looking forward to tackling his friend?

“It depends on the tackle,” Lawrence said. “If it’s a tackle for a loss, then yeah. If he knocks me back a little bit for a couple gains, then no. But I’m planning on more tackles for losses.”

There will be friendly trash talking come Sunday, too, Lawrence said. And while Barkley and the Eagles are familiar foes, a little insider info never hurts. Enter Patrick Johnson, the edge rusher the Eagles drafted in the seventh round in 2021 who is now on the Giants after the Eagles waived him following Week 1 this season.

As reporters were heading toward the Giants’ locker room Wednesday, Johnson and practice squad linebacker Curtis Bolton were talking with a team staff member outside a weight room.

“He wants to win this one bad, they just cut his [butt],” Bolton said to the staffer about Johnson.

» READ MORE: How Saquon Barkley plans to soar with Eagles following Giants stretch: ‘Everything I want to accomplish is still there’

But Johnson later made no demonstrative claim when asked about playing his former team. Johnson said he’s fielded some questions this week about “personnel and stuff.” He was “caught off guard” when the Eagles waived him, he said.

“I’m happy to go against them for the first time,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be very different, very interesting.

“We’re just preparing like any other week. I’m going to try to treat it like any other week, but obviously I’m excited about this one.”

As Lawrence said: “At the end of the day, to me, it’s football. You’ve got to beat whoever is in front of you.” For the 2-4 Giants, it’s a pivotal divisional matchup against the 3-2 Eagles in the first of two installments this season of a rivalry that Barkley acknowledged has gone on for years before him and will continue for years after him.

At the very least, Sunday is sure to be an interesting chapter, never mind what the combatants want to publicly say about it.

The Eagles play in Week 7 against the New York Giants. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from MetLife Stadium.