AJ DILLON FIGURED the encounter with a stranger at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport would be like any other with a Green Bay Packers fan who asked to pose for a picture.
They’d throw an arm over each other’s shoulders and smile like they were long-lost pals while they either snapped a selfie or had someone else take it.
Not this guy.
“He gets down on his knees and wraps his arms around my quads,” the Packers’ running back recalled. “This is a grown man, picture of his kids on his phone, married and [says to his] his wife, ‘Hey, take this picture of me with my arms wrapped around his quads,’ and thought it was the funniest thing.
“I didn’t know he was doing all that. I just thought I was getting ready for a picture, and before I knew it, he was down there.”
Even Saquon Barkley, who has the thighs to rival Dillon’s, had never experienced anything quite like that.
“That is where the line draws for me,” the New York Giants’ running back said. “I might pick up the sleeve a little bit and give it a flex for the picture. I’ve done that a couple times. I haven’t gotten anyone to drop down to their knee and wrap my leg and take a picture with it. That’s a little too far.”
Coincidentally, it was at an airport when Barkley first recognized people fixating on his legs.
“This is when I first realized it: I was in Newark airport, and I was walking to get my bags, and I had short shorts on, people were just looking at me, and I’m like ‘What the heck?'” Barkley said. “I had a hoodie on, and I’m like, ‘What’s everyone staring at?’ And people were coming up and saying, like, ‘You’ve got some really nice legs.’ I think when it first started out, I was like, I don’t know why – it was males, females, everybody – and I’m just so caught off guard by it.”
Such is life in public for the two running backs with perhaps the most muscular lower bodies in football.
Two years after tearing the ACL in his right knee, Barkley has rebuilt his body into the foundation of his success. With the added motivation of a contract year, he leads the NFL with 463 rushing yards through four weeks. His 252 yards after contact is second only to Cleveland’s Nick Chubb, and only 81 fewer than he had all of last season as he rebuilt his strength and confidence.
Barkley ranks 36th in the NFL in yards after contact since the start of the 2020 season, despite missing 18 games with injuries. Dillon, who combines with Aaron Jones to give the Packers one of the most lethal 1-2 punches in football, ranks seventh.
Barkley knew coming in if it were sheer size that would determine the title of “The Quad King,” he would be in trouble. Dillon reported that he checks in at 6-foot-1, 250 pounds; Barkley, a shredded 6-foot, 227 with body fat of less than 6%.
Barkley, whose 133 rushing yards over expectation this season is second in the NFL, was stunned when Dillon guessed Barkley’s quads would measure at well over 30 inches. Hey, he hasn’t run through defenders for 290 total yards this season by accident.
“Oh wow,” said Barkley, who knew he would measure in at a solid 29 inches.
That is when Dillon took out the kind of measuring tape a tailor would use to fit a suit. Of course, he had to flex to reach max girth. These are uber-competitive NFL running backs. They compete at even the most innocuous of tasks.
Quad Kings: Saquon Barkley vs. AJ Dillon
“We’ve got 34 [inches],” Dillon said. “But it might be more like 33 because I’ve got sweats on.”
At that point, Barkley, riding in the backseat of a car to New York City, simply conceded.
“Not 34,” he said. “You’ve got me beat.”
The second-overall pick in 2018 wondered how the great Earl Campbell would compare. Campbell’s Hall of Fame bio notes he had 36-inch thighs. He’s got all of these modern-day backs beat.
Barkley’s advantage may be strength per inch. He estimated his max squat at 700 pounds while Dillon said 675. (Note: They had to do it simultaneously in order not to try and one-up the other.)
Neither is anything to scoff at. Actually, quite the opposite.
WHILE BOTH HAVE nicknames related to their quads – former Giants teammate Odell Beckham Jr. came up with “SaQuads” for Barkley and Dillon has used both “Quadzilla and “The Quadfather” – their running styles are different. Dillon runs with power between the tackles, while Barkley seemingly glides through open spaces and makes defenders miss.
Barkley has the edge in the speed department; his 4.40 40-yard dash time bettered Dillon’s 4.51 coming out of college. Barkley is tied for second in the NFL with four runs of 20-plus yards this season.
“My biggest question is, like, ‘Yeah, he’s got big legs, but how do they move so fast?'” Dillon said. “Mine don’t necessarily move that fast. I’ve got the big ones, but I use mine more for running through people.”
It’s still quite a strange phenomenon to Barkley. He doesn’t embrace the fascination with his legs.
“I don’t know why, for some reason in college, having big legs wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t like my legs got bigger when I got to the NFL or AJ’s legs got bigger when he got to the NFL, but it’s like, once you get on the NFL scene, everyone likes talking about the size of your legs,” Barkley said.
“People talked more about my calves in college, and then I got to the NFL, Odell kinda made a joke calling me ‘SaQuads,’ and everyone was like, ‘He’s got huge quads, he’s got big legs.’ Now, whoever’s new, it was Najee [Harris] or it was AJ – I forget how the order went – but, like, every year someone new is like, ‘Who’s got the best quads, who’s got the biggest quads in the NFL?’
“I don’t know why. I don’t really get people’s obsession with it.”
Not that Barkley tries to hide them. He still flaunts them by wearing the short shorts he says are in style. The quads protrude out of them.
As do Dillon’s.
“If you got ’em,” Dillon said. “You’ve got to show ’em.”
