Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley leads his children by example.
When Barkley left Penn State early to enter the NFL Draft in 2018, he vowed to return and finish his education.
“I’m going to walk across that stage, hold my degree up high, and then go home and hang it on my wall to show my daughter that I accomplished something great,” Barkley wrote in an essay for The Players’ Tribune.
In 2022, the dad of Jada, 6 and Saquon Jr. 2, made good on his promise.
“I’m happy I was able to accomplish something that was a goal of mine,” Barkley said. “I want my kids to be goal setters.”
Barkley shares Jada and Saquon Jr. with his college sweetheart, Anna Congdon. Read on to learn more about the family who will cheering on Barkley at Super Bowl LIX at Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans.
Jada Clare
Barkley and Congdon welcomed their first child on April 24, 2018.
“I always gotta try to set the standard for her because her image of a man is going to be off of me,” Barkley said in a 2019 NFL film.
In the movie, Barkley also shared that he chose Jada’s name from a list Congdon created with 10 girl names and 10 boy names.
Jada, now 6, was recently captured on camera doing a special pregame handshake with her dad. After clapping hands back and forth, Barkley leaned down to kiss Jada’s cheek, and she returned the gesture. The duo then held up peace signs.
Their handshake has become a tradition before NFL games.
In 2019, Barkley described Jada as his “world.”
“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,” Barkley told NJ.com. “I want to be the best role model and father I can be in her life.”
Saquon Jr. Barkley
Saquon Jr., or S.J. as his parents call him, was born in September 2022.
“He lights up the room. Amazing smile. Jada is being an amazing big sister. Anna, obviously, an amazing mom. We’ve got a beautiful little family,” Barkley gushed that year about his son.
In March 2024 conversation with Overtime, Barkley confessed that he coddles Jada more than S.J.