Saquon Barkley will be one of the players to lead the New York Giants forward this season, and after a historic rookie year, it’s easy to wonder just what makes the star running back tick. Barkley has, after all, not slowed down since coming out of college, and has even talked this very offseason about improving his game even further and meeting the big expectations placed on him this season as one of the team’s top performers.
Of course, competitiveness is one part of it, but that’s not the only thing driving Barkley forward to better and better performances throughout his career. While at his youth football camp, Barkley talked about his main motivation: family.
“It’s not just football. Every business decision I make, every investment, every marketing deal, all have to come with the mindset of my daughter being first. She is my world. I’m going to give her the world,” Barkley said of his daughter, Jada. “I’m going to make sure she never has any worries in life, but I’m also going to show her that you have to work for everything in your life. I want to be the best role model and father I can be in her life.”
Those business endorsements helped propel Barkley to the #93 spot on the Forbes list of highest paid athletes recently, making him the only player on the Giants right now to make the list at all.
“Obviously I do it for myself because I love the game, I love competing and I want to go down as one of the best [in NFL history], but I go out there and sacrifice my body every single day for my daughter,” Barkley also stated.
It looks like family is a good motive for Barkley, as the running back was able to set historic numbers for a rookie last year and completely revitalized the much lamented running game for the Giants.
This year, Barkley will have an even larger chance to build his name and a future for his daughter, and will enter the season with perhaps the most expectations of any player on the Giants. But if there’s one thing that can be taken away from the 2018 season, it’s that Saquon Barkley isn’t the type of player to be fazed by pressure.