The Philadelphia Eagles are hoping a running back trio of Will Shipley, AJ Dillon and Saquon Barkley will somewhat limit the burden their veteran star has to take on during the regular season.
Last season, Barkley had 345 carries for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns. He earned the 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year award and helped power the Eagles’ offense to a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
At 28, Barkley is around the age where running backs start to decline in production. He also has an injury history that includes an ACL tear in 2020.
The Eagles are planning to make sure the All-Pro is healthy for the offseason.
Per Brooks Kubena of The Athletic, first-year Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said he’s talked to Barkley about his workload for the upcoming season. Patullo plans to be “game specific” with how he uses Barkley in the regular season.
Barkley isn’t concerned about reaching 2,000 yards again in 2025.
“I didn’t come in with the mindset last year to rush for 2,000 yards,” Barkley said. “It kind of just happened. So just stay in the moment, take care of little things, be consistent with my process, be obsessive with my process, and make sure that nothing’s non-negotiable. If it’s in the cards again, it is. If it’s not, it’s not.”
While the Eagles might not feature Barkley as heavily as they did in 2024, the offense still wants to use the 2018 No. 2 pick similarly this season.
Patullo trusts Barkley to know when he’s pushing himself too far.
“He does a really good job of knowing himself — of when he needs to come out, when he wants to go back in,” Patullo said. “So, a lot of that will be on him, obviously during games, and he’s really good about paying attention to that.”
Still, it’s on the Eagles staff to make sure Barkley doesn’t take unnecessary risks, especially during the regular season. He proved too important to the offense in the postseason for him to suffer an injury in the regular season.
Like what happened to the San Francisco 49ers when Christian McCaffrey dealt with calf and Achilles issues last year, the Eagles can’t afford for their $20.6M-per-year running back to be on the injury report.
