Tim McManus
PHILADELPHIA — There was a time, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley said, when he would see clips of Derrick Henry running hills or Christian McCaffrey working out and feel compelled to spring into action to keep pace, thinking, “I’ve got to go.”
The competitive nature remains, but the circumstances are different this offseason, with Barkley coming off a campaign in which he shattered his previous high in carries. And so he is instead listening to a chorus of confidants — a group that includes Eagles coaches, mentors and a couple Hall of Fame backs — who are advising him to take a more measured approach to his training to allow his body to heal.
“You’ve just got to be smarter, right? You have your moments where you go in there and you grind, you push it,” Barkley said. “But the majority of those days is just mobility, conditioning, doing all the things to get your body in shape to perform at a high level. It was a lot of workload [last year], but my body feels great, so that’s the most important thing.”
Barkley had one of the best seasons for a running back of all time in 2024. He rushed for 2,504 yards over the regular season and the postseason, breaking the single-season record. The reigning Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year added 499 yards and five touchdowns in the playoffs to help Philadelphia capture its second Lombardi Trophy.
The Eagles leaned on Barkley quite a bit to fuel their offense. He finished the regular season with 345 carries — 50 more than his previous high of 295 set in 2022 — and ran the ball 91 more times in the playoffs.
The natural concern is whether the effects of that level of usage will carry over as Barkley enters Year 8.
Barkley, 28, consulted head coach Nick Sirianni, running backs coach Jemal Singleton and a pair of former greats in Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James, among others, who all had similar advice for him.
“It wasn’t hard because everyone I trust told me basically to sit my ass down for a little bit,” he said following the team’s lone minicamp practice last week.
Sirianni noted that each player in the organization has an individualized training regimen based on a number of factors, including player feedback and input from the trainers and strength staff.
“We kind of monitored everybody as we went,” Sirianni said. “We got a lot of good work in, Saquon got a lot of good work in and yeah, I’m pleased with how the offseason program has gone.”
The upcoming weeks will be a little different for Barkley as well. He explained that in previous years he would try to come into training camp ready for Week 1. This time around, he’ll be conscious not to overdo it during the team’s down period and will allow camp to help work him into proper shape for the start of the season.
To this point, the approach seems to be working for Barkley.
“I feel really good,” he said. “I feel like I’m entering my prime.”
