July 01, 2026

Things to watch for at Eagles training camp: Running back edition

Will the Eagles rely more on Saquon Barkley's back ups this season?

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

060325_Saquon-Barkley-EaglesTrainingCamp_Claggett-13.JPG

Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice

Can Saquon Barkley expand his skill set as a receiver this summer?

Philadelphia Eagles training camp begins at the end of July, so over the next few weeks we'll detail what we need to see from each positional group heading into the 2026 season. We'll continue on today with the running backs.

Previous training camp previews

Quarterback

Also, rather than profile each player individually like we have in the past, I thought that this year we would do bullet points for each noteworthy thing to watch.

First, the depth chart:

RB1	RB2	RB3	RB4	RB5
Saquon Barkley	Tank Bigsby	Will Shipley	Dameon Pierce	Elijah Mitchell

• Barkley had one of the greatest running back seasons of all-time in 2024 when he broke the single-season rushing reocrd (regular season + playoffs), carrying the Eagles' offense to a Super Bowl. However, he had an extremely heavy workload that season, and his production predictably fell off in 2025, when his yards per carry average plummeted from 5.8 to 4.1.

Factors outside of Barkley's control — mainly injuries and substandard play by the offensive line — contributed to Barkley's downtick in 2025, but in my opinion he was also not the ultra-explosive back he was the previous season. By that I mean, he was "regular explosive," not the supercharged beast he was in 2024.

Barkley's workload was not nearly as intense in 2025 as it was in 2024. His total touches were down from 482 to 346, a drastic decrease, but he still also had the sixth-most touches in the NFL.

Barkley insists that he feels just as good now as he did in 2024, but in my view, year-to-year fatigue is still a consideration this season, like it was last season.

• As noted in our quarterbacks preview, The Eagles' offense will have a lot more under center looks this season under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. Barkley said during OTAs that he has been studying Todd Gurley, who produced some monster seasons running out of a similar scheme under Sean McVay in Los Angeles.

Our Geoff Mosher wrote a good article on what to expect from Barkley in Mannion's likely "wide zone" run scheme.

• Running backs are typically factors as receivers in this type of scheme. Guys like Gurley and Christian McCaffrey, for example, posted huge receiving numbers playing in this scheme. The Eagles have hit on some big plays to Barkley in the passing game, mostly on wheel routes, but overall Barkley has not shown much as a back who can effectively run a full complement of routes. We'll see if that's an area of focus in improving his game this summer.

• One of the many issues the Eagles' offensive staff had in 2025 was a misuse of their player personnel, and Tank Bigsby was a prime example.

After the Eagles traded for Bigsby after Week 1, 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 Saquon 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.

Here we cut up Bigsby's 2025 carries. He's a fun player to watch.

He had a lot of explosive runs, he makes guys miss, he fights hard for extra yards, and he has a fun, frenetic running style. I love his skill set as a complementary piece to Barkley. When the Eagles' run game is working, opposing defenses have to deal with the speed and power of Barkley all day. And then when Barkley's not in there, it's fun to imagine teams trying to tackle this unpredictable ball of energy.

He's clearly a player worthy of being on the field more than he was in 2025. To be determined if the Eagles' staff will also see it that way.

• We saw some two-RB sets in spring practices, so maybe that will be part of Mannion's offense this season?

• Will Shipley seemed poised to take on something of a Kenny Gainwell type of role in his second NFL season, but that did materialize. Instead, the Eagles felt the need to trade for Bigsby, relegating Shipley to RB3 status.

Shipley only got 14 carries on the season, for 49 yards. He had 9 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.

• The Eagles kept four running backs on their 53-man roster for no good reason last season, with A.J. Dillon unnecessarily occupying a roster spot as the RB4. The Eagles would probably be better served keeping a veteran back on their practice squad and braking that glass in an emergency.

The two players vying for an RB4 spot this year are Dameon Pierce and Elijah Mitchell.

Pierce, 26, was a Texans fourth-round pick in 2022, and he very quickly had a big role in their offense, rushing 220 times for 939 yards and 4 TDs as a rookie. However, his numbers fell off sharply the following season, when he rushed for just 2.9 yards per carry.

The Texans waived Pierce during the 2025 season, and he later signed with the Chiefs' practice squad before being elevated to the active roster in late December. His career stats:

Dameon Pierce	Rush	Yards	YPC	TD
2022 (HOU)	220	939	4.3	4
2023 (HOU)	145	416	2.9	2
2024 (HOU)	40	293	7.3	2
2025 (HOU/KC)	14	36	2.6	0

Pierce also has 45 career receptions for 268 yards (6.0 YPC) and 1 TD.

Mitchell, 28, was a 49ers sixth-round pick in 2021. He had two promising seasons as a backup with the 49ers before a hamstring injury derailed his career. His career stats: