Saquon Barkley

Barkley has been engaged to Anna Congdon since February 2025. The couple have two children, daughter Jada Clare and son Saquon Jr., and Congdon was his college sweetheart.

Barkley is the son of boxer Alibay Barkley and Tonya Johnson. His great-uncle is former WBC middleweight champion Iran Barkley. Barkley has said that he is a Christian.

Barkley was born in the Bronx and moved with his family to Bethlehem, Allentown, and Coplay, Pennsylvania. He attended Whitehall High School, where he rushed for 3,646 yards and 63 touchdowns from his sophomore through senior seasons. In 2014, he shared the Mr. Pennsylvania Football award and also competed in basketball and track and field.

Barkley initially committed to Rutgers before choosing Penn State. He played three seasons for the Nittany Lions and established school records for career all-purpose yards, career rushing touchdowns, and career receiving yards by a running back. His 358 all-purpose yards against Iowa in 2017 set a Penn State single-game record.

Barkley won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Running Back of the Year in both 2016 and 2017. He was a consensus All-American in 2017, won the Paul Hornung Award, and helped Penn State win the 2016 Big Ten Championship and the 2017 Fiesta Bowl. He was coached by James Franklin and entered the 2018 NFL draft after forgoing his senior season.

The New York Giants selected Barkley with the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. He made an immediate impact, rushing for 1,307 yards and setting Giants rookie records for rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns. He also caught 91 passes, an NFL record for a rookie running back, and was selected to the Pro Bowl.

Barkley was named the 2018 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year. He became the first Giants running back to rush for at least 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. A torn anterior cruciate ligament ended his 2020 season, but he returned to the Pro Bowl in 2022 after rushing for 1,312 yards.

He spent six seasons with the Giants from 2018 through 2023. His final season in New York included 962 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns, 41 receptions, and four receiving touchdowns.

Barkley joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024 after leaving the Giants. In his Eagles debut against the Green Bay Packers, he scored three touchdowns, becoming the first Eagles player to do so in a team debut since Terrell Owens in 2004.

His first Eagles season became the finest statistical season of his career. Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards, led the NFL in rushing, set the Eagles' single-season rushing record, and became the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. His 255 rushing yards against the Los Angeles Rams were the most in a single game in Eagles history, while his 302 total yards also set a franchise record.

Barkley finished the 2024 regular season with 2,283 scrimmage yards and 15 touchdowns. He won the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year award and was named a first-team All-Pro. In the postseason, he recorded 205 rushing yards against the Rams and three rushing touchdowns against the Washington Commanders before helping Philadelphia defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. His 2,504 rushing yards and 2,857 scrimmage yards in the regular season and postseason combined set NFL records.

Barkley's acting credits include NFL Superbowl LVIIII: Born to Play (2024), Meet Me on the Steps (2025), and Madden NFL 26 (2025). He was also the cover athlete for Madden NFL 26, becoming the second Eagles player to appear on a Madden cover after Donovan McNabb.

In 2018, the Pennsylvania General Assembly designated March 14 as Saquon Barkley Day. Barkley and his family took part in a hometown parade in Coplay that included the Whitehall High School marching band and children from the youth football league where he played.