Eagles Locker Room Report: Saquon’s Cowboy Collar, Dirty Kicks and OL Continuity

PHILADELPHIA — Saquon Barkley will play Monday night in Chicago despite a painful stinger that limited him during the Eagles’ Week 2 win over Tennessee.

The superstar running back also indicated he doesn’t believe that the injury will affect him against the Bears.

“I don’t think so. No, that’s why I’m rehabbing my ass off to get as strong as it needs to be,” Barkley said after practice on Friday. “I feel like I’m in a really good spot. I know that they wouldn’t let me go out there if I wasn’t able to do it. …

“I’m gonna go out there and play fearless.”

The injury itself is no mystery inside the building. Barkley took the first carry of last Sunday’s win in Tennessee, stayed down, and later returned wearing a cowboy collar. He finished with only five touches.

The extra day before Monday Night Football this week has been welcomed.

“Everyone knows what it is — a stinger — some are worse than others, and just keeping the nerves calmed down around it,” Barkley said. “Beautiful thing is it’s a Monday night game, so I have a little more time. But right now, the mindset is I’m good to go. Might have to put on a little cowboy collar for a little bit, but I’d rather that than something with my ankles and my feet and my legs.”

The collar is the visual that will follow him onto Soldier Field. The first version was too tight. Barkley said he could not turn his head — “your head is like your steering wheel” — and when he dropped into a running back stance he felt stuck.

The equipment staff made adjustments. Barkley said his stance may look a little different, closer to how he stood in college at Penn State. The goal is protection without limiting him.

“The boys in there did a really good job of coming with something that is not only gonna protect me, but also allow me to play the way I wanna play and play free,” Barkley said. “I feel like I’ve been, so far, put a great week of practice together. … I’m gonna stick to working on the things that I need to work on, and the results is gonna come as a whole in the run game.”

OL Continuity

Philadelphia Eagles place kicker Jake Elliott (4) celebrates his field goal during the third quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Up front, the conversation was less about hardware and more about timing.

Left tackle Jordan Mailata talked through the quiet work of an offensive line that is still stacking reps together.

“Just understanding Cam [Jurgens’] tempo, and then for Cam would be Drew [Kendall’s] tempo. And then for Drew, it’d be [Tyler] Steen’s tempo,” Mailata said. “We all have a different kind of body tempo, body movement.

“… The more reps we can keep stacking together, especially for me and Cam [at left guard], the better we can be on the same page and just understand if there is a hiccup that needs to be handled, we’re able to, together.”

Dirty Kick Controversy

On special teams, Jake Elliott explained why the Eagles liked using a holder on kickoffs last week, a look they borrowed after seeing it on film from Atlanta and may now be banned by the NFL in Week 4.

By Braden Mann holding the ball directly on the ground at angle, it allowed Elliottt to hit more effective, trajectory-altered "dirty" kicks

“I like the repeatability of it,” Elliott said. “Just the way I was able to kind of make the ball move in the air and like what I was able to accomplish with it.”

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower flagged the tactic publicly, stating it violates the original intent of the rule.

NFL special teams coordinators then arranged a meeting to address the loophole and move toward a rapid clarification or mandate requiring the ball to be placed on a tee if a holder is used.

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