By Mallory Mattingly
Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley shared that his daughter wants to grow up and “preach the gospel.”
“When I was a kid, you ask me what I wanted to be, and I’ll tell you I wanted to play in the NFL. You ask my daughter what she wants to do, and she wants to preach the gospel. She just loves it,” Barkley said in a video from Christhlete as he shared his testimony.
His daughter Jada is 8.
“We pray at night, we talk about it, she asks me all these great questions, then as a father, you try to answer it to the best of your ability, but all the answers are right there,” he said, talking about the Bible.
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“So, it’s like I gotta challenge myself to try to learn it better for her and better for myself. The second that I made my mind up that I wanna follow Christ, there’s no coincidence I have the best year of my life,” Barkley continued. “It’s been very helpful for me now, and I still fight that every single day, there’s still so much that I gotta work on, and there’s so much that I can continue to improve, and like I said, I want to be that example not just as a football player but to my daughter.”
“I want to open up the Bible and tell about this verse or that verse and break it down,” he said. “I’m not there yet, but it’s a challenge that I’m willing to accept.”
Last year, Barkley played golf with YouTube golf influencer Grant Horvat, where the NFL star talked about his faith in Christ.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you I know the Bible in and out,” Barkley told Horvat. “It’s something I’m learning. I’m challenging myself to get better at it with my family and friends. I’m really lucky to have my agent — he’s a pastor — and I’m able to have Bible studies with him.”
“But I’m just growing,” the Super Bowl champion added. “And I think that’s the beautiful thing about it. I think that’s what faith is — having a relationship with God and understanding who Jesus is. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do this year.”
In 2025, the Eagles were the Super Bowl champions. Barkley won the MVP award and took to social media after the game to share that 2025 took the “cake.”
“It’s safe to say that I’ma take the cake for this year I would say try again next year. But next year will probably be my best year… GOD IS GREAT,” he said.
Barkley’s openness about his spiritual walk highlights his intentionality in fatherhood. Rather than letting his NFL stardom shake up his family life, Barkley lets his daughter’s curiosity drive his own personal walk with Christ as he grows in his faith alongside her.
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