Saquon Barkley on Nick Sirianni: From Rivalry to Respect
Saquon Barkley didn’t mince words when reflecting on his early impressions of Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. Back when Barkley was still wearing Giants blue, Sirianni wasn’t exactly his favorite figure in the NFL.
“I couldn’t stand that motherbleeper,” Barkley said with a laugh. “I could not.”
That reaction came after the Eagles’ dominant 38-7 playoff win over the Giants in 2022. Sirianni, never one to shy away from the spotlight, was caught on camera celebrating - in a way that rubbed plenty of people the wrong way, including Barkley.
“He just went into the camera and was like, ‘Yeah, it’s the playoffs,’” Barkley recalled. “It was against us, right?
And that kind of stuck with me for a very long time. So I wasn’t a fan of him.”
Fast forward 14 months, and Barkley’s perspective has taken a full 180. Now a key piece of the Eagles' offense, the star running back isn’t just playing for Sirianni - he’s fully bought in. And on Wednesday, he made that crystal clear.
In what turned into a passionate, unprompted defense of his head coach, Barkley laid it all out: the respect, the admiration, and the belief that Sirianni belongs in the conversation with the best in the business.
“He doesn’t get a lot of respect,” Barkley said. “I don’t know why he doesn’t get the respect he should get, in my opinion.
You really don’t hear about him. How long has he been coaching here?
Five years? Who’s been a better coach the last five years than Nick Sirianni?”
That’s not just locker room lip service - Barkley backed it up with specifics. What stands out to him most is Sirianni’s relentless attention to detail and the culture he’s built in Philadelphia. From ball security to tackling fundamentals, Barkley says it all starts with the head coach.
“He’s so obsessed with the little things, and there’s a reason why this team has been super successful,” Barkley said. “It’s been pretty cool to go from going against him and not being a fan of him, to seeing what he’s all about.
“He’s the perfect coach for Philadelphia. Like, what he stands for and how he operates. I think, literally, when you think of someone in Philly and a Philly fan, if I had to picture a coach, it would be Coach Sirianni.”
Barkley didn’t hesitate when asked why he believes Sirianni deserves to be in the “best coach in the league” conversation.
“Why not?” he said.
“What do you go off of? When people compare who’s the best and who’s not, for coaches, it’s about winning.”
And Sirianni has done plenty of that. Since taking over in Philly, he’s never missed the playoffs, reached two Super Bowls, and won one - all while compiling the fifth-best winning percentage in NFL history. Yet somehow, he’s never finished higher than fifth in Coach of the Year voting.
“That’s insane,” Barkley said. “Yeah, I think that kind of just goes to my point.”
Still, Barkley made it clear that personal accolades aren’t what drives this group - not for Sirianni, and not for the players. The goal is simple: win games, and do it the right way.
“He would say himself, what makes a great coach is having great players,” Barkley said. “And obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles have been a great team since I’ve been here - going against them and now playing with them.
“But there’s something to his standard that he sets. There’s something to the way he comes to work.
Just how detailed and how obsessed he is with all the little things. There’s a reason why we do a really good job protecting the ball.
There’s a reason why we do a really good job of tackling. That all stems from him.
“It starts with him. And then he trickles it down to the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and all the assistant coaches. And we all take that message and make it work.”
Sirianni may not be the loudest name in national coaching debates, but inside the Eagles’ locker room, his impact is undeniable. And for Barkley, the transformation from rival to believer is complete.
“There’s only really one thing that matters,” Barkley said with a grin. “And it’s pretty fun getting drunk on Broad Street. I think a lot of us want to do that again.”