Fantasy Football Managers Should Panic About Eagles Running Back Saquon Barkley

After a dominant 2024 season, Saquon Barkley’s 2025 fantasy football performance has fantasy managers worried — here’s why his decline might not just be a slow start.

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) looks on during the second quarter of the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

After a historic 2024 fantasy football season, Saquon Barkley has not looked the same in 2025. What makes his slow start so concerning is the fact that so many analysts forecasted this based on his usage in 2024. We are now through six weeks for Barkley, with the Eagles playing on Thursday Night Football this week, and fantasy owners need to decide if they should be panicking about this slow start or if it's just a blip on the radar that will get better.

The Case For Panic

Historically, we know that when a running back sees 350+ touches in a season, they see a significant drop off in the following season. In 2024, Barkley saw 378 touches in the regular season and 104 touches in the playoffs for a grand total of 482 touches in 2024. This is an extremely alarming number of touches. 

Last year, Barkley averaged 5.8 yards per carry, and through six games this season, he has seen that number drop to 3.4 yards per carry. His carries, yards, and touchdowns are all on pace for a significant dip this season. His season high in rushing this season is just 88 yards, and that was the only game that he had more than 60 yards in. Last year, he only failed to top 100 yards five times all season, and only once finished with fewer than 65 yards. This seems to be more of an issue with either Barkley or the offense, because it hasn't simply been a string of tough matchups.

Saquon Barkley games with fewer than 65 rushing yards...

2024 - 2 of 20 (including playoffs)
2025 - 5 of 6

He had 17 carries of 20+ yards last season.
His longest rush this year is 18 yards. pic.twitter.com/ZRqvmsUlD4

— Underdog (@Underdog) October 10, 2025

The team clearly isn't running him as much this year as they did last season. Through six games in 2024, he had handled 108 carries, and this season, he has seen 95. His touches are also noticeably declining this season, whereas last year they began to ascend at this point of the season. 

If he continues at his current pace, Barkley will rush for 920.8 yards and 8.5 touchdowns in 2025. Unfortunately, the schedule is also about to get tougher for at least the next few weeks, with the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions next up, who are both considerably better rush defenses than the New York Giants, whom he just struggled against.  

The Case To Stay Calm

This is a tough case to make, but he is seeing a bit more usage in the passing game this season with the passing volume in the offense increasing. Even if he's been less efficient there, he could see a boost in PPR value. Also, the Eagles' offense hasn't looked good as a whole. With his volume being cut back and the Eagles' offense not looking great, there is room for improvement and an increase of usage moving forward. 

The Verdict

If you couldn't figure it out by the length of the case to panic and the case to remain calm, yes, you should be panicking. That's not to say he'll be terrible by any means. He's been the RB11 on the season, so he's still an RB1. It's not like he's going to be a guy that you can't put in your lineups. However, as far as you getting your draft value back based on what you paid to get him, or him coming close to replicating what he did last year, that's not going to happen. Whether you want to blame Barkley, the offensive line, or the play calling, it really doesn't matter. You shouldn't expect anything more than a slight improvement and the occasional boom game from here on out.