Philadelphia Eagles superstar Saquon Barkley has expressed his befuddlement at the booing of Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, saying she is only helping the game grow.

Swift has been a regular presence at games over the past two NFL seasons since getting together with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce.

The focus on the pop star during broadcasts has been exaggerated by the sharing of clips on social media, with some fans criticising official channels for showing her too much.

It seemed to come to a head when the camera found her and projected her on the big screen at the Superdome before Super Bowl LIX, which was met with loud jeers from parts of the New Orleans crowd.

Swift looked a little perplexed by the response, before laughing and appearing to mouth “What’s going on?” before the shot cut away.

Running back Barkley was preparing for his first Super Bowl at the time, which he and the Eagles won 40-22, but said he noticed the crowd’s response.

“They showed her on the jumbotron and she got booed,” he said on the Howard Stern Show.

Barkley said the presence of Swift was only a positive for the NFL.

“She’s made the game bigger,” he told Stern.

“In football, we’re all about ‘how can we expand the game and make it more internationally?’. We’re travelling to Brazil and we’re travelling to Mexico and apparently we’re travelling to Australia soon.

“We’re trying to expand the game and her being a part of it’s only helping that. So I don’t get the dislike that she’s getting.”

Barkley arrived in Philadelphia from the struggling New York Giants and made an immediate impact by breaking rushing records en route to the Super Bowl.

They faced the Chiefs — who have played in five of the past six season finales — led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Kelce, whose relationship with Swift has been a storyline since midway through last season, when Kelce won his second straight Super Bowl and third overall with Kansas City.

The 2024 game, in which the Chiefs beat the LA San Francisco 49ers in overtime, was the most watched Super Bowl in history.

How much longer the Swift-Kelce duo is a regular part of the NFL is unknown, with rumours swirling about Kelce potentially retiring.