Eagles Need To Let Saquon Barkley Fly (and Catch)
The Philadelphia Eagles made a massive decision when they traded away All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots this offseason. While many are fixated on who will replace Brown’s production at wide receiver, Philadelphia’s answer to their passing woes could be in a different room. It’s time for the Eagles to let All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley fly (and catch).
In 2024, Barkley had arguably the greatest season by a running back in NFL history. He recorded 2,005 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns, while also sitting out Philadelphia’s final game. Yet Barkley, along with the Eagles offense as a whole, took a significant step back last season. He recorded 1,140 rushing yards and averaged nearly two less rushing yards per carry.
Despite Barkley’s “down season,” I believe that his role should expand in 2026. While he has posted some eye-opening numbers in his first two seasons with the Eagles, it feels like the team has failed to take advantage of Barkley’s entire skillset. He has averaged just 35 receptions in the regular season over the past two seasons, which feels entirely too low.
Following the departure of Brown and the arrival of new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, it feels like the perfect time to utilize Barkley more as a pass catcher. In his first six seasons with the New York Giants, Barkley averaged 4.2 targets per game. In his first two seasons with the Eagles, Barkley has averaged just 2.9 targets per game. He recorded 41 or more receptions in five of his six seasons with the Giants and has yet to exceed more than 37 receptions in a single season with the Eagles.
Now an argument will be made that Barkley was used more as a pass catcher by those teams because they were normally trailing. Yet it’s interesting to look at Barkley’s usage alongside some of the other top running backs in the NFL today. ESPN recently released an article that surveyed executives, coaches and scouts around the league. Here are the NFL’s top five running backs, according to the article.
Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions
Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
It’s hard to argue with these rankings and shows how the rest of the NFL still views Barkley as an elite running back. Yet why isn’t he being utilized as a pass catcher like some of these other players? Here’s a closer look at each player’s targets per game and where that ranked among running backs last season.
Christian McCaffrey, SF: 7.6 (1st)
Bijan Robinson, ATL: 6.1 (2nd)
Jahmyr Gibbs, DET: 5.5 (3rd)
Jonathan Taylor, IND: 3.2 (T-12th)
Saquon Barkley, PHI: 3.1 (T-13th)
As you can see, there’s a drastic disparity between how Barkley was utilized as a pass catcher compared to the players ranked ahead of him on that list. While Taylor was ranked closer to Barkley, it’s also worth noting that he led the NFL in total carries and had 369 total touches in 2025. Meanwhile, Barkley had just 317 total touches last season.
The confusing aspect of Barkley’s usage is his success as a pass catcher in the past. During his rookie season in 2018, Barkley hauled in a ridiculous 91 receptions. In year two in New York, Barkley was targeted 73 times in just 13 games. He averaged 30 or more receiving yards per game in each of his first three seasons with the Giants. Barkley has averaged just 17.3 receiving yards per game over his first two seasons in Philadelphia.
Yet one of Barkley’s most memorable plays with the Eagles was his reverse hurdle against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which came after he caught a pass and made multiple defenders miss. Following Mannion’s arrival in the City of Brotherly Love, it’s time for the Eagles to utilize Barkley as a pass catcher once again. The 34-year-old first-year offensive coordinator is expected to bring several principles from the offense that Sean McVay has implemented with the Los Angeles Rams.
Mannion played under McVay for two seasons in 2017 and 2018. He was part of the same draft class and teammates with former All-Pro running back Todd Gurley for four seasons. Mannion had a front row seat to how Gurley evolved as a pass catcher in McVay’s offense. Prior to McVay’s arrival, Gurley had 64 receptions for 515 yards and no receiving touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Rams. In McVay’s first season with the Rams, Gurley had 64 receptions for 788 yards and six receiving touchdowns.
Fittingly, Barkley revealed that he has watched Gurley’s film and talked to him earlier this offseason as he gets ready to embrace Mannion’s new-look offense. Barkley mentioned Gurley when asked about the expected arrival of the wide zone scheme and how other running backs have found success in the offense.
“There's a lot of guys that do it in the system right now, but one guy that I've been focused on and talked to him a little over Instagram, Todd Gurley, watching his film,” Barkley said. "Obviously it's a little bit different, but the big years that he had when he was playing and he was healthy, the way that he attacked it."
Barkley isn’t lying. The “big years” that Gurley had in McVay’s offense were astronomical. He was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2017 and was named a First-team All-Pro in his first two seasons under McVay. It’s clear that Gurley took a massive step forward in this offensive scheme and I’m excited to see what Barkley can do in a similar offense in 2026.
Unfortunately, Gurley dealt with several injuries and was forced to retire early. While Barkley certainly isn’t the 23-year-old running back that Gurley was in 2017, it’s clear that he still has plenty of juice. The 29-year-old running back is just one season removed from a historical performance and if Philadelphia’s offensive line can stay healthy, he could return to form in 2026.
While many are fixated on who will replace Brown at wide receiver, part of the solution could simply be targeting Barkley more out of the backfield. He has shown the ability to make defenders miss and targeting him a couple of more times per game could be the easy button that Philadelphia’s offense was seemingly missing at times last season.
Despite an underwhelming performance in 2025, it’s clear that Barkley is still one of the top running backs in the NFL. As famous detective Terry Hoitz once said, “I’m a peacock, Captain! You gotta let me fly!” Now it’s time for the Eagles to follow what Hoitz said and let Barkley fly in 2026.