ESPYS 2025: Eagles named best team, Saquon Barkley nabs top NFL player, best play honors

August 1, 2025

28 4 minutes read

For one night at the 2025 ESPY Awards, the entire sports world united to celebrate all of the remarkable moments and athletes who captivated the world in the past year.

And this year, the Philadelphia Eagles took home a number of honors for their spectacular Super Bowl run.

Hosted by comedian and Eagles fan Shane Gillis, the annual awards show brought people from all across the sports world and celebrities to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. From the best football player to the craziest player to the most dominating team, plenty of awards were given out to those who were undeniable.

People who have made significant contributions to their sport and community were also honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, the Pat Tillman Award for Service and the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award.

But for Philly fans, here were the top moments for the Eagles at the 2025 ESPY Awards:

Go Birds: ESPYs host and Eagles fan Shane Gillis takes a shot at Cowboys, parodies the ‘Tush Push’

The final honor of the night went to the Super Bowl 59 champions. Coach Nick Sirianni and numerous players were in attendance to accept the award.

“On behalf of the Philadelphia Eagles organization, thank you,” Sirianni said. “What an honor it is to be associated with all of the great teams that were up for this award. Thank you to the fans who voted for us and thank you to the best fans in the world back home in Philly.”

Left tackle Jordan Maliata shouted out the trainers and families for being the reason for the team’s success and threw in a joke, too.

“If you made it this far into the program, give yourselves a pat on the back,” Mailata said. “It’s been a long night. I also want to give a thanks to our sixth offensive lineman, (ESPYS host) Shane Gillis. Training camp starts on Tuesday so if you want to give it a run, let us know.”

Mailata turned more serious after that quip to thank other members of the team.

“I also want to give thanks to the many people who don’t get the light shined on them,” Mailata said. “Our trainers, our strength and conditioning trainers, our athletic trainers, our chefs. But then you look deeper than that and it’s our families, our rock, the people who get us to work every day, and our wives. So thank you to everyone who supported us.”

The Birds earned the award after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl 59 thanks to game MVP Jalen Hurts and a stellar defensive performance.

On the season, the Eagles were led by AP Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley, AP Defensive Player of the Year finalist Zack Baun, AP Defensive Rookie of the Year finalists Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean as well as several other All-Pro and Pro Bowl players.

After a record-setting season, the Eagles running back was honored as the best player in the NFL.

Barkley was selected for the honor following his first season with the Eagles where he rushed for 2,504 yards – the most ever in a season when counting the playoffs.

He also had the most scrimmage yards in a season with 2,857. His 499 rushing yards were the third most all-time in one postseason, and his 2,005 rushing yards was the eighth most all-time in a regular season.

He also added 15 total touchdowns in the regular season and five more in the playoffs, which was capped by the Birds’ 40-22 Super Bowl 59 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The gravity-defying play won the best moment. Barkley wasn’t in attendance, so Mailata accepted the honor and tried to guess what the running back would say.

Along with this honor, Barkley also hurdled onto the cover of Madden NFL 2026.

In the play immortalized in the Birds’ Week 9 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Barkley famously performed a backward hurdle over a defender to the shock of his teammates and others around the league.

Shortly after Barkley took a pass in the flat from Hurts, he broke a tackle, spun away from another defender and then leaped backward over defensive back Jarrian Jones.

Shane Gillis jokes about ‘Tush Push’

Who came up with the infamous play perfected by the Birds? Gillis showed a parody movie trailer about how the “Tush Push” came about.

Gillis also took a shot the hated Dallas Cowboys.

Shane Gillis monologue

The comedian holds nothing back to start the show, rolling with jokes about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting fouled, Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, the betting scandal with Shohei Ohtani and Bill Belichick’s relationship with Jordon Hudson.

Gillis made several jokes about President Donald Trump. He said he doesn’t know sports and told a story of meeting him at the Super Bowl.

Full list of ESPY award winners

Best Male Athlete: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Best Female Athlete: Simone Biles
Record Breaking Performance: Alexander Ovechkin
Breakthrough Athlete: Ilona Maher
Best NBA player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Best WNBA player: Caitlin Clark
Best men’s college athlete: Cooper Flagg
Best women’s college athlete: JuJu Watkins
Best athlete with a disability: Noah Elliott
Best Championship Performance: Simone Biles
Best MLB player: Shohei Ohtani
Best NHL player: Leon Draisaitl
Best driver: Max Verstappen
Best UFC fighter: Merab Dvalishvili
Best boxer: Katie Taylor
Best soccer player: Christian Pulisic
Best golfer: Scottie Scheffler
Best tennis player: Coco Gauff

ESPYs special honorees

Arthur Ashe Award for Courage: Oscar Robertson
Jimmy V Award for Perseverance: Katie Schumacher-Cawley
Pat Tillman Award for Service: Greater Los Angeles first responders, David Walters and Erin Regan
Icon Award: Diana Taurasi and Alex Morgan