Could 2026 season be the final year for Saquon Barkley with the Eagles? Why RB can't have a repeat of 2025 campaign

Saquon Barkley embraces the pressure of playing in a big market. He handled success and failure in six years with the New York Giants and arousing amounts of success the past two years with the Philadelphia Eagles.

There were few players in an Eagles uniform that faced the pressure Barkley did in 2025, thanks to the success he created by rushing for the most yards in a season in NFL history (including postseason). Rushing for 2,000+ yards again was always a tough act to follow.

Barkley made the most with what he had to work with, finishing with 1,140 rushing yards and averaging 4.1 yards per carry. He finished with 1,413 yards from scrimmage and averaged 4.5 yards per touch.

Barkley has rushed for 1,000 yards in both years with the Eagles, so what's the problem? The 2025 numbers regressed to the mean, which isn't ideal for a player that has an average annual salary of $20.6 million -- yet alone a running back.

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The 1,000-yard season is fine, but Barkley averaged just 4.1 yards per carry -- a significant dip from 5.8 the season before. The Eagles offensive line had their fair share of injuries with Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson being the biggest ones, but there was more then mediocre offensive line play that hindered Barkley.

Barkley had a success rate of 45.0% on his carries, 41st amongst NFL running backs in 2025. He was 24th in yards before contact per rush (1.36), and 38th in yards after contract per rush (2.71). This is out of 49 qualified rushers.

Saquon Barkley -- 2025 stats	Stats	NFL Rank
Rushing yards	1,140	10th
Yards per carry	4.1	34th
Success rate	45.0%	41st
Yards before contact per rush	1.36	24th (out of 49 qualified RBs)
Yards after contact per rush	2.71	38th (out of 49 qualified RBs)
Negative rush rate	24.3%	47th (out of 49 qualified RBs)

Those numbers and rankings don't exactly justify a contract that commands $20.6 million a season. Neither does having a negative rush percentage of 24.3%, third highest in the NFL amongst 49 qualified running backs.

There are some factors in the equation that favor Barkley. He faced an eight-man box on 31.1% of his carries, 13th in the NFL. Barkley averaged 3.5 yards per carry with an eight-man box, 18th in the NFL. Teams also add an extra man in the box to stop Barkley, and that plan worked in 2025.

The NFL is a copycat league, and teams are going to try and contain Barkley again in 2026. If the Eagles new offensive scheme can't adjust, these numbers won't significantly improve. Of course, Barkley isn't coming off a 2,000-yard season either -- and running backs never come close to replicating their success in the season following a 2,000-yard campaign.

Here's where the contract comes into play. Barkley has $16,750,000 in guaranteed salary for the 2026 season, with a cap number of $9,881,100 (per Over the Cap). The contract changes in 2027, as Barkley has just $2.5 million in guaranteed money and a cap number of $13,057,100. The Eagles would actually save $5,066,100 by designating Barkley as a post-June 1 cut -- and would eat $3,540,900 in cap space as a pre-June 1 cut.

Essentially there's a way to get out of the contract after this season. Barkley could have another strong season running the ball and this would all be for nought, but this is something the Eagles may have to consider down the road.

Barkley is also 29 years old and the 2027 campaign would be his age-30 season. How many running backs outside of Derrick Henry, Frank Gore, Curtis Martin, and John Riggins have had multiple successful seasons in their 30s? At such a high salary at their position no less?

The 2026 season will be Barkley's ninth in the NFL. There's a lot of tread on those tires, even if Barkley remains in incredible shape.

Simply put. There's pressure on Barkley to return to form in 2026, especially if he wants to remain with the Eagles past this season under his current contract.