Saquon

Barkley

"(We) will know more in the future” were Barkley’s words after he finished the day with four carries for nine yards and an 11-yard reception. That’s because Barkley did indeed “finish the day,” but he spent over two quarters on the sideline before barely touching the ball in the second half. The fact he returned at all suggests it’s not an overly serious issue, but it could end up being diagnosed as a neck ailment, which is always a delicate situation. Tank Bigsby is shaping up as a priority waivers add in the 60-70 percent of leagues where he is not currently rostered. We will hopefully update Barkley’s status on Monday.

Barkley seemed like he was dying to get back into the game in the second quarter, but he couldn’t get comfortable. That evidently changed at halftime. We will undoubtedly see more Tank Bigsby than usual in quarters three and four, but Barkley’s return is the best possible news after he was roughed up on the Eagles’ opening drive.

Barkley was injured on the Eagles’ opening drive and immediately announced as questionable. He returned to the Eagles’ sideline in relatively short order with his helmet and a neck roll, but he has remained sidelined into the second quarter. He has also since shed his helmet. It appears it could be Tank Bigsby closing this one out for the Eagles. The only good news is, a stinger would be unlikely to sideline Barkley for Week 3. Stay tuned.

Barkley was a non-factor through the air and was almost as inefficient on the ground. His 83 rushing yards were boosted by an impressive 42-yard run he ripped off in the second quarter when he broke a tackle and made his way upfield for the big gain, evading two other defenders before eventually being brought down. The Eagles ran only one play at/inside the Commanders’ 10-yard line, which limited Barkley’s scoring chances. He should be positioned for a nice bounce-back week in next week’s game against the Titans, where he can be viewed as an RB1 for fantasy purposes.

According to the Tredyffrin Township Police Department, Barkley’s home was broken into shortly after 5:00 AM EST on Saturday, but suspects had already left the location by the time authorities arrived. Barkley and his family were home at the time of the break-in but were thankfully unharmed. No arrests have been made at this time, and the incident remains under investigation. Barkley is expected to report to training camp next week.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler spoke with NFL coaches and front office officials about the league’s best running backs. Barkley ranked third behind Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs. “My only criticism is that he doesn’t always produce when things aren’t completely clean,” an NFL coordinator said of Barkley, adding that Barkley should be treated as a three-down back. “That’s dating back to the Giants. Tends to need things perfectly set up for him.” This could explain why Barkley had a disappointing 2025 campaign in an Eagles offense that struggled to move the ball for much of the season. Barkley, who is widely expected to have a bigger role in the Philadelphia passing offense in 2026, last season ranked 45th out of 60 qualifying backs in yards after contact per rush, alongside Woody Marks and Breece Hall. Tank Bigsby, Barkley’s backfield mate, led the NFL in yards after contact per attempt.

Berman notes that Barkley had 136 targets in his final two seasons with the Giants compared to just 93 with the Eagles over the past two years, and adds that new OC Sean Mannion was teammates with Todd Gurley when Gurley averaged 84 targets in 2017 and 2018 with “a similar offensive scheme.” A.J. Brown’s absence will absolutely leave a target vacuum that Barkley could step into. If so, that would be a major boon for his fantasy prospects in 2026.

Under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who will reportedly have “total authority” over the team’s offense, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles will have to learn an entirely new playbook predicated on the concepts that have made Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers and Sean McVay’s Rams two of the league’s most efficient offenses. This is very much in line with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie pledging in April that the team would implement “significant offensive changes” after a 2025 campaign in which they ranked 17th in EPA per play, in line with the Texans and Falcons. Depending on which version of the Shanny/McVay offense Mannion installs, Saquon Barkley could see more pass-game involvement while short-area pass catchers like Dallas Goedert and rookie Makai Lemon see plenty of looks from Hurts, who last year ranked 14th out of 45 qualifying quarterbacks in accuracy on short throws. In 2024, Hurts led all QBs in accuracy on attempts between 1-10 yards.

Under head coach Nick Sirianni and new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, a former NFL quarterback, Lurie said the Eagles would make the tweaks necessary to bounce back after a down 2025 campaign. “This year, it was really apparent to everybody, but especially I would say to our head coach that we were able and going to make some significant offensive changes that would get us back to being a championship-level offense,” Lurie said. “We have our own proprietary metrics and ways of measuring offensive and defensive performance, and our offense was not what we were either accustomed to or expected of.” The usually-efficient Philadelphia offense last season ranked 17th in EPA per play, behind teams like the Commanders and Giants. Jalen Hurts’ passing efficiency fell off big time, as the Eagles were 15th in adjusted yards per pass attempt, in line with the Falcons and Texans.

Mannion is expected to lean on run game coordinator and tight ends coach Ryan Mahaffey in installing a zone-blocking scheme reminiscent of the one used by the Shanahans and their acolytes over the decades. Eagles head coach Nick Sirriani said he expects Saquon Barkley — coming off a down 2025 season — to be “exceptional” in the team’s new rushing scheme. “He’s been highly productive in many of the schemes,” Sirianni said of Barkley, who had 28 rushes of more than ten yards in 2025 after having 46 such runs in 2024. The Eagles in 2025 used zone rushing concepts on 45 percent of their carries, the 13th lowest rate in the NFL. They were efficient with zone rushes, logging a 50 percent success rate, the tenth highest in the league.