It has not been easy for New York Giants fans since running back Saquon Barkley joined the Philadelphia Eagles, and the new documentary from Prime Video, Saquon, adds salt to the wound.
Since he left the Giants, Barkley has won a Super Bowl, and the Eagles started the 2025 season 4-0 before losing to the Denver Broncos. Meanwhile, the Giants went 3-14 in their first year without Barkley, and they are currently 1-4 after losing to the previously winless New Orleans Saints.
Before their Week 6 Thursday Night Football matchup, Prime Video will drop the Saquon documentary on the streaming service. The documentary follows his journey over the last couple of years as his relationship with Big Blue deteriorated, and his relationship with Philadelphia grew.
The Giants were featured on the offseason Hard Knocks in 2024, which exposed the franchise's ineptitude during their negotiations with Barkley.
Now, Barkley tells his side of the story in Saquon. While he previously claimed the documentary would show his “love and support” for the Giants, it does not feel like there is much love at this point. The documentary is very Taylor Swift-coded, and it serves to expose the Giants years after their falling out.
It's hard not to feel that there are still some bitter feelings from Barkley watching his documentary. That's understandable, given how the Giants treated him — which is on full display in Saquon — after he spent six years in New York. The harsh business side of the NFL is shown, and all of the complexities that come with it.
Saquon review: What's Barkley's documentary about?
Saquon opens with the running back watching media coverage of his very public negotiations with the Giants. He is clearly fed up, and the saga between himself and the team that drafted him was reaching its crescendo.
“I’ve done nothing but represent this organization the right way,” he says. “They don’t gotta be like this. They could be simple. I can’t go nowhere.”
He was trapped, but he eventually found freedom in Philadelphia. It would take time, though, as he'd play for the Giants on a one-year deal in 2023. Then, he finally left to join the Eagles.
Ultimately, Barkley would achieve his goal of winning a Super Bowl. Unfortunately, it couldn't happen with the Giants. That long journey is what Saquon chronicles, from his recovery from injuries to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
Is it honest?
The biggest complication with documentaries is honesty. Of course, Barkley is featured heavily in the documentary, and Martin Scorsese — who has both blended fact and fiction in documentaries like Rolling Thunder Revue and told accurate retrospectives like in Living in the Material World — produced it.
Saquon sometimes goes overboard with how much it's willing to show. Barkley has conversations (while playing Madden) with Giants general manager Joe Schoen, which show him “snapping” at him. At other times, it's clear that the documentary is a puff piece about the star.
Naturally, the documentary is going to be biased towards one side of the story, so it's hard to fault Barkley. On one hand, the Giants had their chance to tell their side in Hard Knocks.
Hard Knocks did not paint them in a positive light. Perhaps Saquon proves who was right in their drama, though it does seem to go to extremes to exonerate Barkley in the negotiations. At this point, the two parties have moved forward, and this should be the last chapter of their beef.
There are three sides to every story, and we've now gotten two. God only knows what the reality of the situation is, but it doesn't look good for the Giants here.
Should you stream Saquon on Prime Video?
The best part of the documentary is seeing Barkley's life grow throughout the three or so years it chronicles. His son, Saquon Jr., was born in September 2022, and he is walking by the end of the documentary. Even his house evolves over the years, and it's cool to see that progression.
Saquon is not meant to be a groundbreaking documentary. It serves as an inspiring story of a running back who proved many wrong with his 2024 campaign.
Sometimes, the journey is the destination, at least that's what Giants fans will have to tell themselves. It's probably painful to see him celebrating a Super Bowl victory with their division rivals, but it was a long journey.
If nothing else, Barkley shows that his exit from the Giants was not fully up to him. That is the main event of the documentary. Once the negotiations reached a certain point, he had no choice but to leave.
Look away, Giants fans. Barkley is here one more time to haunt your dreams before playing them twice in three weeks.
Saquon will premiere on Prime Video on October 9.
