Michael David Smith ,
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Eagles running back Saquon Barkley carried the ball just six times for 30 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Broncos, and through five games, Barkley is one of the NFL’s most disappointing players.
Last year, Barkley’s arrival in Philadelphia took their offense to a new level, and they won the Super Bowl. This year, Barkley hasn’t even been an average runner. He’s been well below averaged.
Barkley has just 83 carries for 267 yards through five games this year. It’s his worst five-game stretch as an Eagle.
After gaining more than 2,000 yards in 16 games last season, Barkley is on pace for less than 1,000 yards in 17 games this season.
After averaging 5.8 yards per carry last season, Barkley is averaging 3.2 yards per carry this season.
After gaining first downs on 23.8 percent of his carries last season, Barkley has gained first downs on 14.4 percent of his carries this season.
It’s not that Barkley hasn’t contributed to the Eagles offense at all, and in fact he has been more involved in passing game this year than he was last year: After three catches, including a 47-yard touchdown, against the Broncos, Barkley now has 17 catches for 128 yards through five games. He’s averaging more catches per game and more receiving yards per game than he was a year ago.
But even with his receiving contributions, Barkley’s total output is way down. Last year he totaled 2,283 yards from scrimmage in 16 games; this year he’s on pace for 1,343 yards from scrimmage in 17 games. The Eagles need the 2024 version of Barkley to show up again in 2025.
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