What Happened: We can officially rule that the New York Giants goofed in letting Saquon Barkley walk in free agency. (The fact that he did so right to an NFC East rival only makes it sting worse.)

But are we soon to be saying that the Giants let the league’s MVP walk away?

Why It Matters: Through 13 weeks of play, Buffalo’s Josh Allen is the undisputed leader in the race for MVP honor. Across multiple sportsbooks, he’s the only player that isn’t plus-money.

Barkley however, has been reverse hurdling his way into the race, and now has the second-shortest odds behind Allen, well ahead of Lamar Jackson and Jared Goff.

So what will it take for Barkley to actually capture the award?

He’s already at a disadvantage, considering his position on the field. The last 11 league MVPs have all been quarterbacks, and only one non-QB has won the award since the 2007 season. That was Adrian Peterson in 2012, a season in which he finished with the second-most rushing yards in a season ever, became just the seventh player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, and did all of that coming off an ACL tear the previous year.

With his odds anywhere from +250-+500, Barkley needs to hit the 2,000 yard mark to be a real contender, and probably needs to set the single-season rushing record to boot. Philly winning enough games down the stretch to capture the no. 1 seed in the NFC probably wouldn’t hurt either.

But therein lies an issue – do the Eagles have any incentive to feed Barkley the amount of touches he needs to break records, knowing they’ll want their best weapon on offense ready to go for the postseason?

Barkley and the Birds have some soft rush defenses left on the schedule. It’s a steep hill to climb, but if Barkley continues to amaze, he might just slip past Allen in this race when all is said and done.