Saquon Barkley, His Must-Draft Handcuff, And More Philadelphia Eagles Player Rankings

The Philadelphia Eagles enter 2025 with a loaded offense featuring Saquon Barkley, whose historic 2024 season sets a high fantasy floor. Meanwhile, DeVonta Smith and handcuff Will Shipley provide under-the-radar value, offering fantasy managers opportunities to capitalize on mispriced assets and injury insurance.

Foundation Stud

Saquon Barkley, Running Back

The wise investment in Barkley paid off handsomely for Philadelphia last year. He was poised to break the record for most rushing yards in a season, albeit with a few more games, but Barkley sat out Week 18 to rest for the postseason. The Eagles gave him 378 touches, leading to 2,283 combined yards, the 13th highest in the history of the NFL.

Barkley’s explosiveness was shown in his career-best 5.8 yards per carry, highlighted by 17 runs of 20 yards or more, with seven rushes reaching the 40-yard mark. He also made four big plays catching the ball. He rushed for over 100 yards in 14 of his 20 starts while tacking on 574 combined yards in the postseason with five touchdowns and 13 catches on another 104 touches.

It honestly felt like Saquon Barkley had a 50+ yard rushing play at least once a game. pic.twitter.com/RJdu9vBJen
— Football’s Greatest Moments (@FBGreatMoments) August 6, 2025

Buying players after career seasons tends to be a losing proposition in fantasy football, especially when they fall into the all-time great category. It will be challenging to get away from Barkley and the Eagles’ high-profile run game in 2025. Even with a 25% regression in overall yardage (571), he would still gain over 1,700 combined yards with double-digit touchdowns and a floor of 30 catches, putting his floor at a top 10 running back.

Barkley’s lower ceiling in catches helps other backs close the gap on his potential in fantasy points, and Jalen Hurts snipes about half of Philadelphia’s rushing touchdowns. His ticket to a repeated season would be helped by more scoring by the Eagles, requiring more success via the pass.

Barkley is currently the RB3 in our 2025 PPR Rankings.

Value

DeVonta Smith, Wide Receiver

Jalen Hurts only threw the ball 448 times in his 18 complete games (24.9 per game) last season, down from 32.8 over his best 17 matchups in 2023. In essence, Philadelphia’s wide receiving corps had over a 24% drop in chances in 2024.

The Eagles were without the services of Smith for four games last season due to a concussion, a lingering hamstring issue, and a day of rest (wrist) in Week 18. He opened the year with a floor of seven catches in three games (7/84, 7/76/1, and 7/79) on 28 combined targets. From Week 6 to Week 11, Smith had six targets or fewer in five matchups, leading to two playable outcomes (6/85/1 and 4/87/1).

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) takes the field before the NFC wild card game against the Green Bay Packers at Lincoln Financial Field. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Philadelphia upped his opportunity in his final four contests (4/37/1, 11/110/1, 6/51, and 6/120/2) after missing two more games. Smith had four catches in all four playoff games (16/190/1 on 17 targets) despite only having five targets in one matchup. His postseason outcomes, added to 13 regular games, essentially added up to a full year of starts (84/1,024/9 on 106 targets) or an upper-tier WR2 in PPR formats.

The Eagles’ success running the ball last year and the missed games by Smith mask his overall fantasy value and price point this year. He draws a WR28 rating in 2025 in PPR formats despite scoring 240.40 fantasy points (Smith would have ranked 15th at wide receiver if his outcomes all were during the regular season) last year. Based on this, there is considerable value already baked into Smith’s price point this year, with a higher ceiling if Philadelphia throws more this year.

On a side note, the fantasy market rates AJ Brown still as a top 10 wide receiver, as they are willing to price him in a similar range as previous seasons. This alone should highlight how Smith is mispriced this year.

Smith is currently the WR24 in our 2025 PPR Rankings.

Upside Running Back Handcuff

Will Shipley, Running Back

Shipley ran most of his plays out of the shotgun formation with Clemson. He runs with a shimmy through the line of scrimmage with the acceleration to win over the short areas of the field. When in space, his decision-making could be better, which would add more distance to his carries. Shipley doesn’t win with power, requiring him to find daylight quickly in tight quarters. His catching ability enables him to be on the field in passing situations, while also offering change-of-pace value on early downs.

Over his first 15 games with the Eagles, he gained only 50 yards on 20 carries. A concussion sidelined him in Week 17, followed by a split role (10/32 with four catches for 35 yards) in Philadelphia’s final regular-season game. He flashed in a blowout mop-up game in the postseason (4/77/1), highlighted by a 57-yard run.

Will Shipley takes off for 57 yards!

📺: #WASvsPHI on FOX
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Lj5OBe3vAM
— NFL (@NFL) January 26, 2025

Shipley looks locked into the Eagles’ RB2 opportunity this year, but an injury to Barkley won’t lead to workhorse touches with AJ Dillon added to Philly’s roster in the offseason. I view him as a must-handcuff for Saquon Barkley while expecting him to get drafted (RB61) after round 14 in 12-team formats with 20 roster slots.

Shipley is currently the RB61 in our 2025 PPR Rankings.

Read an in-depth breakdown for every single skill-position player on the Philadelphia Eagles, including projections and player profiles.