Eagles 2025 Position Preview- Saquon Barkley And The RBs

Just a few more days until the Eagles' season starts. Will they be able to repeat as champions? We are breaking down every position for the Eagles. Today, we take a look at the running backs, where they have the best player not just at his position, but perhaps in the league. The question is, can Saquon Barkley stay healthy after a heavy workload, and do they have the pieces behind him?

Related: QB | WR | OL | DL | LB | DB

Expecting another 2000-yard season would be too much. That is something that has only happened 9 times. No one has done it twice. But another season with around 5.8 yards per attempt could certainly happen. The issue will be his health and keeping him fresh.

He carried the ball 436 times last season, including the playoffs. That is a lot of wear and tear. What helps him is that the O-Line protected him from big contact on a ton of plays. But even with that taken into account, hhe still took a lot of hits. And RB is a position that can wear down quickly.

We saw with the Niners that Christian McCaffrey went from having an MVP-esque season to missing most of last season. That is an extreme example. Derrick Henry is the proof that the opposite can be true. He gets a high volume of carries and continues to excel. Barkley has had issues with high volume in the past with the Giants, but excelled last season.

The question becomes, can he do it again? Was last season's health luck, or is it the sign of a new trend? The Eagles have been good at keeping players healthy. It is multiple seasons of data now, so you can't call that just luck. But you also look at Barkley's prior injury history, and there is some concern.

They might need to use him a bit less. Still utilize him as the lead back, and he will still likely have, if not the most carries, close to the most carries, but maybe work in the backups a bit more, provided they can be productive.

If they are going to give Barkley more rest, they need the guys behind him to step up. Last year, Kenny Gainwell was good, but hardly utilized because they wanted to keep Barkley on the field.

This year, they have Will Shipley and AJ Dillon. They seem high on Shipley. Our resident Eagles insider, Andrew DiCecco, has been very high on the ability of Shipley. We saw him flash in camp/Pre-Season. He has some explosion to his game. We just have not seen him do it in the season, but he will get the chance, and there is good reason to be optimistic.

AJ Dillon is also an interesting addition. He missed all of last season with a neck injury and struggled in 2023. But the guy is a tank, and could be effective in short-yardage situations. Shipley can bring the lightning, and Dillon the thunder when Barkley comes off the field.

Again, we need to see him do it in-game after not seeing much at all over the past 2 seasons. But there is at least a track record there, and at the very least, he could be a decent 3rd option.

The RB room will still go as Barkley does. But there is at least some solid depth on paper to back him off and hopefully take some workload, to keep Barkley fresh for the long run.