Eagles bucked a trend by betting big on RB Saquon Barkley. Here's why they're confident it'll pay off.
PHILADELPHIA — Saquon Barkley ran from the sideline onto the field to dap up fellow Philadelphia Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell.
Jalen Hurts reached Gainwell next, the quarterback indulging in his own handshake to celebrate the scoring drive they’d just shared.
Hurts hadn’t just found Gainwell for the diving touchdown during the red zone work at practice — he’d also found Gainwell on the series’ initial handoff, a quick-release completion next and a third catch through coverage by C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
The touchdown capped off four successful plays — all to Gainwell.
As Barkley watched, he celebrated what the Eagles’ RB2 had just accomplished on Barkley’s workload management day (think: rest, sans injury concern).
Then Barkley considered the 360-degree view of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s vision for the Eagles' running back room.
The plan will continue to evolve, Moore and Barkley each in their first year in Philadelphia after spending six seasons elsewhere (Moore’s NFL tenure as a player dates back still longer).
But both men know: They don’t view running backs as only downhill threats. Neither literally nor figuratively do they expect to box running backs in. The versatility and production Gainwell showed Wednesday spoke to his skill set but also the broader running back-usage philosophy Philadelphia will embrace this season.
“You have to be able to catch the ball in this offense,” Barkley told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday after practice. “You got to make people miss. [Moore] does a really good job of putting you in space and giving you the opportunity to let your talent show and make plays and you got to be able to adapt with all the runs. Some teams have one identity … [but] this camp, they’re throwing everything at us.
“That's a challenge that not only myself, but all the backs in the room, want.”
Eagles’ nuanced RB perspective explains investment in Barkley
When the Eagles gave Barkley a four-year deal, $37.75 million with $26 million guaranteed this offseason, they didn’t take lightly his salary in a depressed running back market.
Barkley’s $12.58 million average annual salary ranks fourth among running backs, his guarantees third. Perhaps as notably, the teams compensating running backs more handsomely — the San Francisco 49ers with Christian McCaffrey, the New Orleans Saints with Alvin Kamara and the Indianapolis Colts with Jonathan Taylor — are not currently on the hook for a quarterback megadeal.
The Eagles are paying top-10 money each to a quarterback and two receivers.
The bold investment partly reflects ahead-of-the-curve salary-cap dynamics from general manager Howie Roseman. But the Eagles also still believe in featuring a running back because they don’t correlate market depression with positional importance.
McCaffrey and Kamara are prime examples: A running back need not only contribute to his team by running.
“[Roseman]’s mentioned it: When you're bringing in a guy who's gonna touch the ball, potentially a couple hundred times, that has a huge impact on the game,” Moore told Yahoo Sports. “When you have guys who can catch a few balls out of the backfield and play in some different positions, now you're just looking at guys who, A: they're playing more snaps and then B: obviously they're contributing to things a lot more just from a touch standpoint.
“Everyone kind of loves to go on this analytical trend of salaries and running backs. [But] it's a very, very valuable position.”
Barkley excelled in space in college and has flashed versions of that explosiveness in both the run and pass games at the pro level, averaging 20.1 touches and 98.8 yards per game across 74 contests after the Giants drafted him second overall in 2018.
At times, like in 2022, a functional offense and healthy starting quarterback helped propel Barkley’s game. Far more often, he was asked to create his own opportunities with makeshift casts.
The Eagles’ bet on Barkley reflects both his talent and his teammates.
Barkley left a Giants team that ranked second-worst in run-block win rate in 2023 for an Eagles team that ranked first, with a full 10% higher success rate, per ESPN Analytics. Even with changes along the line, including the retirement of six-time All-Pro center Jason Kelce, Barkley joins a team with more talent and a higher level of scheme on the offensive line.
He played for coaches during his New York chapter who believed in a single style of run-blocking. In Philadelphia, where offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland is also run game coordinator, Barkley said he’s already been asked to run with duo, midzone, inside zone and tight zone formations.
The Eagles believe Barkley will face fewer stacked boxes with 1,000-yard receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith routinely threatening downfield.
And on run-pass options: Can defenses truly feel comfortable selling out to defend Barkley? Hurts has averaged 716.3 rushing yards and 12.6 rushing touchdowns per year in three seasons as a starter.
“He hands off and you see the defense respect him pulling it,” Barkley said of Hurts in one recent camp play. “It gives me an open gap because the offensive line did a really good job blocking. And then I'm one-on-one with the safety.
“That gets you excited.”
The plan for Eagles’ 2024 offense
The Eagles' 2024 offense is something of a mystery.
Head coach Nick Sirianni has one offensive background, Moore comes from a different offensive background and Hurts’ partnership with Moore marks his ninth play-caller in the last 10 years. Add in Barkley’s arrival, and predicting the Eagles’ latest style would spit out infinite results in an algorithmic request.
But Yahoo Sports conversations with front office, coaching and player voices this week paint this broad-stroke picture: Expect Philadelphia’s run game to most closely resemble the Stoutland-inspired versatility and strength that Philadelphia has powered to a top-10 rushing attack each of the last four years.
Expect Philadelphia’s passing game concepts to more closely resemble what Moore powered to three top-10 passing offenses in four seasons as Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator. The system emphasizes more West Coast principles than Hurts’ recent coaches have incorporated, the quarterback tying his feet to progressions and routes more carefully this season than in prior pro years.
Moore is encouraging Hurts to hang in the pocket until his third or fourth progression even in times when he could justify a scramble.
"There's a time and place to scramble, but when you stick through a progression, there's big plays on the backside,” Moore said.
The Eagles expect Barkley will be one of the threats to make that big play.
“More times than not when I touch a ball, I'll be in open space and that's kind of what I was really known for in college: making guys miss and getting yards after contact,” Barkley said. “In prior years, [it’s been] more of like get downhill, get dirty and wear the defense down.”
Barkley knows that some dirty runs to wear the defense down will still be important. The Eagles are also emphasizing “flip and find” blocks in which skill players downfield flip around and find blockers to clear lanes when they don’t have the ball in their hands.
But there will be times, via both runs and routes, that it is Barkley with the ball in his hands and his teammates flipping and finding.
Barkley’s watching film of previous backs in Moore’s system to see how Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard and Austin Ekeler rode their blocks to make guys miss.
He spent a cold tub session this week with LaDainian Tomlinson highlight reels for inspiration, clocking still more hours with his son on his lap as they watch backs like Marshall Faulk for inspiration.
The Eagles dream that Barkley’s cast upgrade and change of scenery will breed the level of success that McCaffrey’s move from Carolina to San Francisco did.
Barkley’s eager to start proving them right.
“Being more aggressive [knowing] I'm going to have a little more space so try to make sure I make that extra move,” Barkley said. “Make that guy miss and take it to the house for a home-run hit, for a long-ball hit.”
