Through the first seven weeks of the 2024 NFL season, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has been one of the premier playmakers in the NFL.
He ranks third in the league in rushing yards despite only having appeared in six games, has a long run in basically every game so far this season, and through it all? Barkley has remained the consummate professional, allowing the younger guys to “eat” instead of going after a new career high.
Now granted, the Eagles have always been a good rushing team pretty much since Jeff Stoutland came to town during the Chip Kelly regime, flirting with a thousand rushing yards in pretty much every season since, regardless of who was running the ball, from Ryan Mathews to Josh Adams, or most recently DeAndre Swift. But with Barkley running the show? Goodness, the rushing offense looks like a completely different beast, especially when Jalen Hurts is ripping off runs, too.
Should the Eagles really lean into what Barkley brings to the table and make running the ball a more central part of their identity, pairing a strong ground game with explosive shots down the field like in Week 7? Well Nick Sirianni was asked that very question during his Wednesday media session and gave fans a very interesting answer indeed.
“I think, again, we do what we need to do to win each game. There’s going to be a game where we’re going to have to pass it a bunch. There’s going to be a game we’re going to have to run it again like that. It’s just all going to be week-to-week,” Sirianni told reporters.
“Again, you want to stay in things that you do well, but everything is going to be week-to-week based off of what’s going right that week. We’ll see as the year progresses.”
On one hand, teams really can’t count on 170-plus rushing yards per game from their lead back as their top offensive option, as opposing defenses really can clog up the running lanes with multiple bodies in the middle of the defense. When that happens, however, the Eagles really need to capitalize on single coverage on the outside with a single-high safety in the middle of the field, as that’s the 1B requirement of this sort of offensive identity.
Saquon Barkley and a fullback? Kellen Moore explains the Eagles shift
While it remains to be seen how the Eagles offense will adapt to this new world where Barkley is playing on another level, there have already been a few adjustments to optimize his effectiveness in the form of giving reserve linebacker Ben VanSumeren snaps on offense, where he’s helping to open up holes for Philly’s rushers as a fullback.
Discussing VanSumeren’s six offensive snaps so far this season and whether or not they will grow heading into the future, Kellen Moore broke down the change and revealed why the Eagles opted to make it starting in Week 4.
“Two-back offenses sometimes there’s value to it at various times. We just felt like there was an opportunity to utilize it in this game. [LB] Ben [VanSumeren] is a guy, going back to high school days, he’s been a ball carrier. And so he’s played on the offensive side before,” Moore told reporters.
“So sometimes it starts as more of a fun experimental aspect and it then it might tournament to serious over the course of training camp and the season. We’ll see where it plays out. Every week you’re trying to find out what gives us best opportunity to be successful and felt like that gave us an opportunity this past week and he did an excellent job. His effort in the run game he had the juice and energy going, and I think it was a real benefit to us.”
While six snaps is an awfully small sample size, the Eagles have ripped off some pretty big plays with VanSumeren on the field, including a 41-yard run in the third from Philadelphia’s own eight-yard line that turned a potentially hairy situation into a massive gain. If VanSumeren can do that a few times per game, playing him at fullback could be a powerful change.
