Saquon Barkley Turns To Former Rams Great In Order For Bounce Back Season

Barkley did not have a good season by his standards

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Saquon Barkley wasn't going to rush for 2,504 yards again last year. Those standards are impossible to meet, considering Barkley is the only player ever to rush for 2,500 yards in a season (including postseason).

Last year wasn't good enough for Barkley, who sets high standards for himself as a player. Barkley didn't have a good year by his standards, nor were they good enough based on what he gets paid.

Barkley is the highest-paid running back in the NFL after all. He expects to live up to that contract, and the Hall of Fame trajectory he's setting his sights on.

So Barkley sought help on how to improve. He turned to former Los Angeles Rams great Todd Gurley for advice.

"Watching kind of his film, but the big years that he had when he was healthy, the way he attacked it," Barkley said. "But I do that no matter what in the offseason, watch guys that are in the league right now who I'm fans of – the Bijan (Robinson), the (Jahmyr) Gibbs, (Christian) McCaffrey, (Derrick) Henry, Jonathan Taylor's of the world.

"I also go back to the OGs and watch them to see what I can add to my game, and just always looking forward to improving my game also."

Barkley considers himself a student of the game, and has turned to the former great running backs for guidence in the past. He idolizes Barry Sanders and has studied Terrell Davis, Adrian Peterson, and Marcus Allen in the past -- along with countless others.

What does Barkley see in Gurley?

The inside zone running scheme is what Barkley has primarily run with over his two years with the Eagles, but that is going to change. Sean Mannion's offense has some outside zone concepts that involve the quarterback under center.

Gurley was a staple of that scheme in the early years under Sean McVay, rushing for 2,566 yards and 30 touchdowns in the first two years McVay was the head coach. Injuries slowed down Gurley of becoming one of the greatest running backs of this era, as Gurley was out of the league by 26.

Barkley is 29 years old and still has some prime years left. His 2025 season was nothing to write home about, as his yards per carry dipped from 5.8 to 4.1. Barkley had a success rate of 45.0% on his carries, which was 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.

Simply put. Barkley was not good last season, despite a 1,000-yard campaign.

"When it doesn’t go the way you want it to be, you’ve got to lock in even more, be more detailed in yourself, be your biggest self-critic, watch the film and see what I can do better," Barkley said. "You find that, you find the weaknesses that you lacked the year prior and you just go balls to the wall in the offseason. That’s what this process and this portion is for.”

Barkley has watched Gurley thrive in McVay's scheme when he was healthy. The Eagles have a similar philosophy on how to build up the running agme again with Manion, which involves having some changes to Barkley's arsenal.

If Barkley has to go back to the basics again, so be it.

"It’s no secret what the system is about, and I look forward to doing that," Barkley said. "It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to working on and getting better at it. Trying to do my best."