CHANGES IN OFFENSE WILL LIKELY CHANGE BARKLEY’S NUMBERS IN 2025
- Paul Domowitch
- Aug 22
- 5 min read
Saquon Barkley became the highest paid running back in NFL history in March when the Eagles gave him a two-year, $41.2 million contract extension on the heels of the three-year, $37.5 million deal he signed with them 12 months earlier.
You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody dumb enough to suggest he’s not worth it after what he did last season when he rushed for 2,504 yards in the regular-season and playoffs and helped the Eagles win their second Super Bowl in eight years.
Barkley became just the ninth player in history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, leading the league in both rushing (2,005) and yards from scrimmage (2,283). He was, without question, the best running back in the NFL.
That said, it is not unfair to wonder what, if any, effect his ultra-heavy 2024 workload will have on his play this season. Barkley had 482 touches (rushing attempts and receptions) last season – 378 in the regular-season and another 104 in the Eagles’ four playoff wins. That’s the 10th most touches in a single season in NFL history.
It’s also 105 more than Barkley ever has had before in a season. His previous high was 377 touches with the Giants in 2022.
The Eagles’ long playoff run, which culminated with their 18-point runaway win over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, meant less time for Barkley’s body to recover from those 482 touches. Head coach Nick Sirianni, offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and the team’s training staff are well aware of that and are proceeding accordingly.
Like most of the team’s starters, Barkley won’t play a single snap in the preseason. His practice reps also are constantly monitored.
The Eagles signed running back A.J. Dillon, a 6-0, 247-pound between-the-tackles bruiser, during the offseason, who, along with second-year back Will Shipley, should lighten Barkley’s short-yardage load and decrease the pounding he takes over the course of the season.
“Right now, I don’t feel any impact from last year,’’ Barkley said. “I just feel (the impact of) camp. You get your bumps and bruises. Camp is supposed to be hard. It helps get you ready for the season and callouses your body up. But I feel really good. It’s all about sticking to the plan.’’
NFL training camps aren’t very hard anymore. They’re like a trip to Cancun compared to the summer camps that masochistic coaches like Dick Vermeil ran in the old days before the NFL became enlightened about concussions and heat stroke and full-contact practices twice a day.
Still, history suggests that last year’s 482-touch workload will have some effect on Barkley this season. Whether that effect will be miniscule or significant, only time will tell.
Just six other running backs have had as many or more touches in a season – Terrell Davis, Emmitt Smith, Jamal Anderson, DeMarco Murray, James Wilder and Eddie George. Davis, Smith and George did it twice.
Davis had 531 touches in 1997 with the Broncos at the age of 27. The following year, he had 499 and led the NFL in rushing with 2,005 yards. The year after that, he suffered a major knee injury. He played in just 13 more games over the next two seasons and retired.
Smith had 516 touches with Dallas in 1992 when he was just 23 and 519 three years later. He recorded eight more seasons with 900 or more rushing yards after that. So, clearly, the heavy workloads didn’t affect him.
Anderson had 517 touches with Atlanta in 1998 at the age of 26. The next year, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the season. He rushed for 1,024 yards in 2000 but suffered a career-ending injury in the third game of the ’01 season.
Murray had 497 touches with the Cowboys in 2014 and led the NFL in rushing with 1,845 yards and yards from scrimmage with 2,261.
He signed a five-year, $42 million deal with the Eagles after the ’14 season, but ended up rotating with Ryan Matthews and Darren Sproles. Rushed for just 702 yards in 15 games. He rushed for 1,287 yards the next year with Tennessee but was out of football a year later at the age of 28.
Wilder had 492 touches in 1984 at the age of 27. He rushed for 1,300 yards the next season before his rushing production started to tail off.
George had 485 touches in ’99 and 488 in 2000 at the age of 27. Rushed for 1,509 yards and had 1,963 yards from scrimmage in ’00. He played four more years and had two more 1,000-yard seasons, but his rush average never again got above 3.4-yards- a-carry.
“I just know that he’s got a lot of good football left in him,’’ Sirriani said of Barkley. “I’m excited he’s on our football team.’’
For a lot of reasons, it’s unlikely Barkley will come anywhere close to 482 touches this season.
The Eagles clearly were a run-first team last year. Their 56.3 run-play percentage was the league’s highest since 2009 when Rex Ryan’s ground-and-pound New York Jets ran it 59.2 percent of the time.
The Eagles found out the hard way the year after their 2022 Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs that if you don’t tweak your offense every year, you become too predictable and easier to defend.
In what is supposed to be a passing league, the Eagles threw the ball last year less than any other team. Averaged just 26.3 pass attempts per game. Look for that to change a bit this season. Not a lot maybe, but a little.
Opposing defenses have spent the offseason trying to come up with a strategy to slow down Barkley and the ground game. The logical counter-move: have Jalen Hurts throw more.
“It’s interesting,’’ Patullo said. “Saquon and I have talked about [his workload this season]. I think it’s going to be very game-specific. It depends on how the flow of the game goes and how we’ll use it.
“He does a really good job of knowing himself as far as when he needs to come out and when he wants to go back in. So, a lot of that will be on him obviously, during games. And he’s really good about paying attention to that.’’ *
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