Maybe it should’ve been a bigger warning signal when the Eagles opened the season with a left guard just two weeks removed from his second knee surgery since the Super Bowl, a center coming off back surgery shortly after the Super Bowl, a new right guard and a general manager who traded draft picks around the roster cutdown date to shore up depth up front.
The Eagles’ offensive line has been an elite group for the better part of the last decade and rightly earned much of the credit for Saquon Barkley’s 2,000-yard rushing season last year. But there’s no question that the big fellas up front, for a variety of reasons, just haven’t opened the same holes for Barkley through four weeks.
That’s not to say Barkley and the offense are doomed. Pass protection has been fairly good and logic would dictate that LG Landon Dickerson and C Cam Jurgens will continue to improve physically as the weeks go by and the distance grows between their surgeries, and that RT Lane Johnson won’t be leaving every game with an injury like he’s done the past two weeks.
The Eagles could very well be just one or two blocks away from clearing a path for Barkley’s first explosive run of the season. Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo thinks they are.
“I know a lot of the guys have talked about it, too. We’ve been so close on so many runs,” Patullo said Tuesday, “and I still think we’re still trying to feel our way out as far as who we are each game. The guys are so good on game day about communication with me. Saquon has been unbelievable, and I know they’re wanting it to happen so badly, but at the same time, you don’t want to force it.”
But through the first four weeks, the line hasn’t met its typically high standard, and it’s shown every time Barkley has been stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Take a look at the difference in Barkley’s average yards before contact in 2025 compared to 2024, and where he ranks among NFL RBs (via pro-football-reference):
| |
YBC AVG |
YBC Total |
| 2025 |
1.7 (38th) |
129 (18th) |
| 2024 |
3.8 (1st) |
1,328 (1st) |
There’s a school of thought that touching the ball close to 400 times in a season – as Barkley did last year – adds too much mileage to a running back and wears him down.
But there’s far more film evidence that the offensive line, especially the interior, is the bigger culprit in Barkley’s inability to find running room than any attrition of speed or athleticism.
Against the Buccaneers, 6 of Barkley’s 19 carries went for negative yardage – almost 33 percent. Six more went for 3 yards or less, so Barkley – who averaged 5.8 yards per carry last year – failed to gain 3 yards on 12 of 19 carries, or 63 percent.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, there’s no one culprit. That would be an easier fix.
And although the Bucs employed a heavy box (eight or more defenders) at a higher rate than Eagles opponents so far this season, the Eagles still faced light boxes on more than 53 percent of their snaps, per Next Gen Stats.
Here’s an example of the Eagles trying to run into a heavy box. It didn’t go well.
They probably should’ve changed the play presnap because the blocking design put the Eagles at a mathematical disadvantage, with just seven on the line against eight Bucs defenders on this split flow run. The RT/TE double team on Bucs EDGE Yaya Diaby (0) left four to block five, allowing LB SirVocea Dennis a free ride through the “A” gap.
But there was also plenty of evidence of linemen not getting the job done, like this next one.
RG Tyler Steen imploded this run when he whiffed altogether on massive DT Elijah Simmons (92), who got inside penetration so quickly that even FB Cam Latu (36) couldn’t rescue Barkley from getting pummeled.
It does appear that sometimes the Eagles are really close to springing Barkley for a long run. This next one could’ve been one, as almost everyone was blocked. Key word: almost.
Dickerson’s pull to the right side didn’t work out, as Bucs LB Lavonte David (54) – he’s pretty good – outflanked Dickerson and lunged at Barkley’s feet, causing Barkley to lose his balance, or else Barkley might’ve been able to jet upfield behind an actually decent block by Grant Calcaterra (81) on S Tykee Smith.
On the subject of losing balance …
Yikes. A big cutback hole opened on the left side of this outside zone but Barkley lost his footing while jump-cutting. What could have been…
Even the great Jordan Mailata can be imperfect at times, as his miss on this run caused Barkley to get dropped behind the line.
With the Eagles executing double teams on two of three Bucs iDLs, Mailata appeared to be responsible for single-blocking massive DT Elijah Roberts but got toasted by Roberts’ swim move, giving Roberts a clear path to swallow up Barkley for another loss.
Safe to say renowned offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland has some work to do before Sunday’s game against the Broncos.
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