The Philadelphia Eagles will be looking to knock off the Kansas City Chiefs and prevent them from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. Philadelphia was on the losing side of the first Super Bowl victory in this stretch and will be searching for revenge with a key change to their team- the addition of Saquon Barkley.
Teams around the league continued to devalue the running back position with the production of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry making teams re-think this moving forward. Barkley has been everything the Eagles hoped for and more this season. The former Giants star became one of nine running backs in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in the regular season and would have a chance to break the all-time regular season rushing record if he suited up for the final game of the season. In addition, he enters this matchup just 30 yards shy of the all-time rushing record for the regular season and the playoffs combined and has a clear pathway to breaking this.
Barkley has also been plenty effective at finding the end zone. He finished the regular season with 13 rushing touchdowns, the eighth in the NFL, and added two receiving touchdowns. He has shown no signs of slowing down in the postseason, tallying an NFL-best five touchdowns in the first three playoff games.
There are nearly endless options for betting options for the Super Bowl on DraftKings Sportsbook. While it is worth exploring all the unique prop bet options, I am sticking to the traditional outlook for this article and like Saquon Barkley to score not just one but two touchdowns in the Super Bowl. Barkley is the favorite to score a touchdown in this game at -195 odds which you can bet on DraftKings Sportsbook and holds +285 odds of scoring twice.
You also can tail me in the DK Network betting group here.
Why Saquon Barkley will score twice in the Super Bowl:
It took just one carry for Saquon Barkley to score in the NFC Championship game as he dashed for 60 yards against a frustrated Washington Commanders defense. Philadelphia’s offensive line paves the way for Barkley to get to the second level and three-time Pro Bowlers has the talent to make the rest happen from here.
Barkley tallied 15 total touchdowns in the regular season, but these occurred across just eight games. The Penn State product reached the end zone twice in six different regular season matchups. This effort has carried over to the postseason with Barkley recording five touchdowns across the past two weeks of the playoffs.
Looking at the matchup, the Chiefs have embraced a more defensive-minded approach that we expect for a Patrick Mahomes-based team. They finished the regular season ranked tenth in rushing touchdowns allowed and fourth in points conceded overall. However, both Joe Mixon and James Cook had success against them already this postseason with Cook rushing for two touchdowns last week.
The biggest concern regarding Barkley scoring a touchdown is the rate at which Jalen Hurts could vulture these goal-line attempts. Philadelphia has established its identity as a run-first football team and this becomes especially clear around the red zone. Both Hurts and Barkley finished in the top eight in the NFL in rushing touchdowns this season with the two combining for 27 touchdowns on the ground. They also rank first and second across the postseason with nine rushing touchdowns combined.
While there is plenty of reason for optimism regarding Hurts’ outlook to score as well, the versatile ways in which Barkley can score give him the edge and the odds properly reflect this. The star running back has a knack for breaking a game-changing run at some point in the matchup and tallied a longest rush of 55 yards or longer in seven games this year. He is a threat to score from all areas of the field and has had great success all season.
This level of production also occurs while Philadelphia has kept Barkley’s long-term outlook in mind. His carries have been limited late in games with some games out of reach and this will not be the case for this game. Everything will be on the line in this matchup with the Super Bowl at stake and expect Barkley to see plenty of opportunities with the ball in his hands. The star running back has waited his whole career to play meaningful football and expect him to make the most of his moment. Even with the amount of talent on this Eagles team, it has become increasingly clear that Saquon Barkley is their best offensive weapon. Expect him to put this on full display in the most important game of his career, and for Barkley to score at least twice for the ninth time this season.
