2025 Eagles Training Camp Preview: Sequel For Saquon?

PHILADELPHIA - All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley did something no other player in NFL history has ever done last season, rushing for an awe-inspiring 2,504 yards through a Super Bowl LIX-winning season.

The NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year became just the ninth NFL player in history to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark in the regular season (2,005) and did so with tremendous efficacy at a career-high 5.8 yards per carry while running behind the league’s best offensive line.

His postseason performance – 499 yards on 91 carries (5.5 ypc) – was a franchise record as well.

The concern moving forward is the 482 touches Barkley, 28, endured last season.

Since arriving in the NFL as a 22-year-old prodigy selected at No. 2 overall in 2018 by the New York Giants, Barkley’s odometer reads 1,996 total touches.

These days, Barkley, who is a historian of the game, is savvier and has learned to listen to his body.

“Everyone that I trust told me, basically, sit my ass down for a little bit,” Barkley admitted this spring.

The touches Barkley had last season were the 10th most in NFL history, and if past is prologue, the All-Pro can expect another heavy workload in the 2025 season.

The good news for Eagles fans is that Barkley’s current approach isn’t traced to wear and tear.

“The beauty of it is, I don’t know how many touches I had or how many yards, but it doesn’t feel like it,” Barkley said. “I feel really good.

“Feel like I’m entering my prime.”

That’s a scary thought for NFL defenses waiting for the repetition of hit after hit, slowly taking its toll on a physical marvel.

For Barkley, the tweaks in his offseason regimen are about learning what works best for him.

“You just gotta be smarter,” he said. “You have your moments where you go in there, you grind, and you push it. A lot of people probably saw the squat video that the Eagles put out. But you have those days. But the majority of those days is mobility, conditioning, doing all of the things to get your body in shape to perform at a high level.

Things have changed behind Barkley with veteran backup Kenny Gainwell off to Pittsburgh in free agency. A potential two–tier caddie system featuring second-year player Will Shipley and free-agent pickup A.J. Dillon, who missed last season with Green Bay due to stinger issues, is on the table.

Eagles running back Will Shipley | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

The Eagles also plan to use a fullback more after Ben VanSumeren showed impressive lead-blocking skills in limited opportunities last season before tearing his ACL.

The athletic BVS, who had been training as a linebacker, was moved to the offensive side of the football full-time this season.

Depth Chart:

RB1 Saquon Barkley; RB2 Will Shipley; RB3 A.J. Dillon; RB4 Montrell Johnson; RB5 Lew Nichols; RB6 Keilan Robinson; RB7 ShunDerrick Powell

FB1 Ben VanSumeren

WHAT’S CHANGED: Gainwell, who had the trust of head coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts, left for the Steelers in free agency, and Shipley, a 2024 fourth-round pick, will get the first opportunity to back up Barkley.

A 57-yard run against Washington in the NFC Championship Game highlighted Shipley’s explosion as a player, and he’s a natural pass catcher. Like most young backs, pass protection is a work in progress for the former Clemson star.

The 247-pound Dillon is a proven physical, inside-the-tackles chain mover if healthy.

Eagles RB A.J. Dillon — New Eagles EB A.J. Dillon met reporters via conference call on March 14, 2025. | John McMullen/Eagles On SI

However, the free-agent pickup missed the 2024 season in Green Bay with stinger issues. If the Boston College banger is ready to go the backup role may be more layered with Shipley serving as the change of pace for Barkley and Dillon being the higher-volume option if more carries are needed.

Also new to Philadelphia are undrafted free agents Montrell Johnson, who many had as a draftable commodity coming out of Florida and undersized scatback ShunDerrick Powell (5-foot-7, 183 pounds) put of Central Arkansas.

Keilan Robinson, a second-year player out of Texas, was a spring waiver-wire pickup from Jacksonville and he’s more kick returner than RB.

Lew Nichols, a very productive college runner at Central Michigan, is also back.

COACHING: Jemal Singleton is the assistant head coach/running backs and is one of a handful of highly-regarded assistants on Nick Sirianni’s staff.

Barkley’s talent level is rare, but remember that Singleton helped guide Miles Sanders and DeAndre Swift to Pro Bowl seasons as well, and Gainwell had progressed into a reliable player by the final season of his rookie deal in 2024-25.

Singleton’s impact on the team’s ball-security drills is also something that Sirianni values.

THE CEILING: Another All-Pro year by Barkley with Shipley settling in as a capable Gainwell-like complement in Year 2, and Dillon adding a short-yardage thumper.

VanSumeren turning a small sample size of 22 snaps as a lead blocker into a more consistent part of a run-first offense is also the goal.

THE LONGSHOT: Johnson has an outside chance of making the 53 if he adds the consistency he lacked in college to the toolbox.

WHO STAYS/GOES: Barkley and Shipley are the only guarantees, with Dillon having the inside track at RB if healthy. BVS’s ability on special teams will also make him a solid candidate for the 53 again as long as he’s healthy from a torn ACL.

Johnson is the leading candidate for the practice squad with Nichols serving as the measuring stick the rookie has to beat.

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