November 09, 2026
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
If the Eagles don't trade Saquon Barkley it means they think they'll be contenders in 2027. Should they feel that way?
The trade deadline will come and go by 4 p.m. Tuesday, but barring some unforeseen, blow-his-socks-off offer, Howie Roseman won't be dealing away Saquon Barkley.
Dallas Goedert? Maybe. Riq Woolen? Probably. Landon Dickerson? We'll see.
Make no mistake, the Eagles' executive vice president of football operations should, and will, be open for business. The NFL's most trade-happy executive will approach the deadline with his typical vigor of an auctioneer.
With the Eagles at 2-7 after another lethargic loss Sunday, a 19-11 sleep-fest to the Giants, and with no remedy in sight for a losing streak that extended to seven games, Roseman's motto over the next 36 hours will be unequivocal: Everything must go.
Everything, except Saquon Barkley.
But why is that?
The sense is that the Eagles believe Barkley is still a high-level performer who can be a significant piece of their anticipated 2027 turnaround. The Eagles might be sellers this November, but they're not expecting to be back in this position next season or anytime soon.
Roseman's history of rebuilding quickly after tank-type years is impressive and should be considered, but the idea that the Eagles will be right back to Super Bowl contention next season – and that Barkley, in his age 30 season, will be the face of another rebound – can't be the logic behind keeping the star halfback who has been gutting through injuries and hasn't come close to looking like the record-breaker who powered the Eagles to a Super Bowl just in 2024.
That might more be the reason that Roseman doesn't get any legit offers for the three-time Pro Bowler, and there's an argument to be made about getting him healthy and moving him in the offseason.
But if the Eagles simply see 2026 as a series of unfortunate, mostly injury-related events that robbed them of a real opportunity to showcase their championship potential, and if they proceed as if they're much closer to title contention than their current record suggests, then they're seeing this with blurry vision.
They're correct to assume the season could have gone differently had Lane Johnson not abruptly retired three games in, or had Jalen Hurts not developed blood clots that would end his season after Week 5, or if DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks hadn't each missed a vital three-game stretch against all NFC East opponents.
But to suggest the Eagles were well-positioned and had a real chance to rub elbows with the NFL's elite this year is to conveniently ignore all the questions and concerns from the end of 2025 that followed them into September, many of which remained even before the injuries and implosions snowballed into total disaster.
What can the Eagles say they've learned about Sean Mannion and his offense as they played their fourth different quarterback Sunday, totaled just 220 yards – the second fewest total yards of any NFL team in Week 9 – and averaged an NFL-worst 3.3 yards per play? Or about a season in which they've failed to get at least 275 total yards six times in nine games.
How confident are they in an overnight rebuild of their offensive line – one that will probably have four different starters next season – into anything close to the one that fueled their 2024 Super Bowl run?
Then, obviously, is the question about the long-term health of their most important player. The Eagles can't possibly know right now, as Hurts remains on blood thinners, if their Super Bowl champion QB will be medically ready for 2027 and if those clots won't redevelop, which could force Hurts into making a career decision.
Even if Hurts returns healthy, there's no evidence to suggest that the passing game, which was sporadic even at 2-0 before hitting a thud on a Monday night in Chicago, will reach a higher level in the second year of a Mannion-Hurts pairing that never really got off the ground in the limited time this season they had together.
All of this presumes that Mannion and even Sirianni are back in 2027. Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie could give Sirianni some deserved grace after one horrific season following a five-year chain of postseason appearances that included two Super Bowl trips.
But the evidence mounting against Sirianni and his ability to either produce a functional offense or hire someone who can could theoretically convince the powers that be that radical, wholesale changes are needed if the Eagles plan to be supreme again.
Heck, they fired Doug Pederson three years after he brought the Eagles their first ring in franchise history. Is it beyond team brass to move on from Sirianni just two seasons removed from winning the second?
Too many questions about the Eagles didn't yield answers this season, and then a bunch of new ones surfaced when the defense took nine weeks to finally play to its talent level, and even then wilted in the minutes that mattered most.
In 1999, the Rams rebounded from a four-win season to win the Lombardi in 2000 behind unlikely hero Kurt Warner. That same season, the Patriots finished 5-11 but won the Super Bowl in 2001 behind another famous rags-to-riches story, and so began the legend of Tom Brady.
The Eagles, of course, play in the NFC East. So they will surely have a chance to get back into the postseason next year if they make the right coaching and personnel changes this offseason. The team has already proven it can do that.
But winning a lackluster division in 2027 just to get a playoff participation trophy before bouncing out can't possibly the reason that Roseman should ignore a good offer for Barkley or anyone else who's approaching the downside of their career but still has value.
If the Eagles don't move Barkley by Tuesday or in the offseason, it'll be the clearest indication that they've got wide open eyes about contending in 2027 while the rest of us are squinting to see anything other than the same flaws and question marks that accompanied them into 2026.
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