February 03, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Saquon Barkley had a down year after his incredible 2024 season.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a position-by-position look at which players will likely be back with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2026, and which ones likely won't. Today we'll continue on with the running backs.
Regarding the polls below, they are your votes on what you think the Eagles should do, not necessarily what you think they will do. Please think of them more as approval polls for each player.
In 2024, Barkley had one of the best seasons by a running back in NFL history, rushing for 2,005 yards and 13 TDs during the regular season, and another 499 and five TDs in four playoff games. He would have likely been the all-time single-season rushing leader (regular season) if the Eagles hadn't rested starters Week 18 against the Giants. He did become the all-time single-season rushing leader (regular season + playoffs) during the Super Bowl.
Barkley topped 100 yards in 14 of the Eagles' 21 games, and he ripped off an astounding seven TD runs of 60+ yards. He should have been league MVP, but the last 12 NFL MVPs have all been quarterbacks, and voters gave the award to a player who did not have as good a season as Barkley.
Heading into 2025, there was almost no way Barkley was going to match what he did the previous season.
As we identified in our Eagles dumpster fire post, Barkley got an astronomical 482 touches in 2024, playoffs included. That was the third-highest number of touches in a single season since 2000. There have been 17 players who have had 430 or more touches in a single season during that span. Here are those players, with their yards per carry during their heavy workload season, and their yards per carry in their follow-up seasons:
| Year | Player - Touches | YPC | YPC - next season |
| 2014 | DeMarco Murray - 497 | 4.7 | 3.6 📉 |
| 2000 | Eddie George - 488 | 3.7 | 3.0 📉 |
| 2006 | Larry Johnson - 475 | 4.3 | 3.5 📉 |
| 2000 | Edgerrin James - 474 | 4.4 | 4.4 (same) |
| 2003 | Ahman Green - 461 | 5.3 | 4.5 📉 |
| 2012 | Arian Foster - 460 | 4.1 | 4.5 📈 |
| 2004 | Curtis Martin - 457 | 4.6 | 3.3 📉 |
| 2002 | LaDainian Tomlinson - 451 | 4.5 | 5.3 📈 |
| 2005 | Shaun Alexander - 448 | 5.1 | 3.6 📉 |
| 2000 | Jamal Lewis - 444 | 4.4 | DNP (knee) |
| 2003 | Ricky Williams - 443 | 3.5 | DNP (retired) |
| 2006 | Steven Jackson - 436 | 4.4 | 4.2 📉 |
| 2004 | Corey Dillon - 434 | 4.7 | 3.5 📉 |
| 2018 | Ezekiel Elliott - 433 | 4.7 | 4.5 📉 |
| 2017 | Le'Veon Bell - 431 | 4.0 | DNP (contract dispute) |
| 2003 | Edgerrin James - 431 | 4.1 | 4.6 📈 |
| 2002 | Ricky Williams - 430 | 4.8 | 3.5 📉 |
That trend held true for Barkley, who went from 5.8 yards per carry to 4.1.
There were certainly factors outside of Barkley's control that helped lead to his sharp falloff:
• The offensive line wasn't anywhere near as good in 2025 as it was in 2024, as Lane Johnson missed eight games, Tyler Steen was not as good a run blocker as Mekhi Becton at RG, and Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens struggled through injury-plagued seasons.
• The offensive scheme and play calling generally sucked.
• Barkley didn't get as much help in the run game from Jalen Hurts, who typically occupied a defender on read option plays, but the Eagles utilization of designed QB runs were near non-existent.
So, any running back likely would have struggled in this offense over a full season.
Still, Barkley himself didn't have the same juice. He still looked like a very good player, but not the same otherworldly talent he was in 2024.
It's also worth noting that the Eagles put a lot of mileage on Barkley again in 2025, as he got 346 touches, which was sixth in the NFL.
After his amazing 2024 season, the Eagles rewarded Barkley with a two-year contract extension, making him the highest-paid running back in NFL history. His contract runs through the 2028 season. Stay.
The Eagles traded fifth-and sixth-round picks for Bigsby in between Weeks 1 and 2 of the regular season.
One of the many issues the Eagles' offensive staff had in 2025 was a misuse of their player personnel, and Bigsby was a prime example.
The initial plan for Bigsby was to be a kick returner, something he hadn't done much of throughout his career, and that did not go well. Bigsby struggled fielding kicks, and he quickly lost that job. He also did not get a single carry in his first five games with the team, prompting many to wonder, uh, why did they trade two draft picks for this guy?
However, during a four-game stretch from Weeks 7 to 11, Bigsby proved to be an effective runner in the offense, carrying 17 times for 156 yards in those games, for an average of 9.2 yards per carry.
Thereafter, the Eagles just... didn't use him in meaningful games. He got 17 carries in garbage time in a blowout of the Raiders, and 16 carries in the Week 18 "resting starters" game against the Commanders. But in the five other games from Week 12 on, Bigsby only got 8 (!) carries, or 1.6 carries per game.
On the season, Bigsby carried 58 times for 344 yards and 2 TDs. His 5.9 yards per carry average was almost two yards per carry better than Barkley's 4.1 yards per carry. Had the Eagles used Bigsby more, they probably would have gotten some positive runs out of him, while also keeping Barkley's usage down a bit. Everyone likely would have benefited, but, again, for no good reason they just didn't use him. 🤷♂️
Bigsby will be in the final year of his rookie contract in 2026, and will likely be the RB2. Maybe Sean Mannion will actually use him in 2026. We'll see. Stay.
I thought that Shipley showed legitimate promise during his rookie season in 2024, and had a chance to actually be an upgrade on Kenny Gainwell as the RB2. That was one of my bigger swings and misses of 2025, as Gainwell had a fantastic season in Pittsburgh, and Shipley was replaced as the RB2 in-season after the team traded for Bigsby.
Shipley only got 14 carries on the season, for 49 yards. He had nine catches for 56 yards. Many of his touches were give-up plays on 3rd and long situations.
Shipley also served as a primary kick returner, averaging 26.8 yards per return, which is right around the league average. His long return was just 41 yards, and he lost a fumble on the opening kickoff in a Week 16 win at Washington.
This was definitely not the season Shipley hoped he'd have when the season began, but he still has two years left on his rookie contract and should be back on the team in 2026. Stay.
Dillon got some playing time early in the season, but in Week 6 against the Giants he muffed a kickoff that rolled out of bounds inside the Eagles' five yard line, and lost a fumble later in the drive. He didn't see the field again until the Week 18 Commanders game, and even then he only played two snaps.
His only real memorable moment from the 2025 season was introducing the "positivity bunny" to the Eagles locker room, and even that quickly met its demise after the Eagles extended a losing streak to three games following a loss to the Chargers. I'll never understand how/why Dillon stuck on the 53-man roster for the entire season. Go.
Green = Stay
Red = Go
Blue = Will be back in camp in 2025, but a 53-man roster spot is not a given.
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| QB | Jalen Hurts (stay) | Tanner McKee (stay) | Sam Howell (go) | |
| RB | Saquon Barkley (stay) | Tank Bigsby (stay) | Will Shipley (stay) | A.J. Dillon (go) |
| WR | ||||
| TE | ||||
| OT | ||||
| OG | ||||
| C | ||||
| ED | ||||
| iDL | ||||
| OBLB | ||||
| CB | ||||
| S | ||||
| K/P/LS |
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