It's OK to Worry About Saquon Barkley

What They're Saying

Barkley on the rushing woes: "That's what happens when you have the year that we had last year and you got a year of tape. We've got to do a better job of adjusting to that and having answers to that, and I've got to do a better job."

Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia: "The offensive line just isn't the same. [RT] Lane Johnson has had to leave the last two games with injuries, [RG] Tyler Steen has been OK but isn't playing up to the level that Mekhi Becton did, and [LG] Landon Dickerson is clearly hindered by injuries as well. ... And he play calling has ranged from poor to lackluster for much of these first four games."

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

Philly's shaky offense so far is pushing a lot more pessimism than you'll typically find around a 4-0 team. But the issues are limiting some pretty key fantasy assets.

Pro Football Focus grades the Eagles just 18th in run blocking so far, well down from last year's No. 4 ranking. FTN has Philly a horrible 31st in adjusted line yards, a full yard short of last year's rate (4.23 to 3.22).

That has Barkley down from last year's 3.8 yards before contact per attempt to just 2.0, according to Pro Football Reference. And the shorter runway has to be factoring into his career-worst rates in yards after contact per attempt (1.1) and attempts per broken tackle.

According to PFR, Barkley broke a tackle every 18.2 carries last year (19 total for the season). He has broken one tackle among 77 carries this year.

The receiving usage is a plus, at least. Barkley finished just 21st among RBs in target share last year, but that rate is up 6 percentage points through four weeks. And he has scored rushing TDs in three of four games.

So there's probably not a whole lot you can do but keep starting Barkley in your weekly lineup and hope for improved rushing efficiency.

There might be opportunities to get a strong trade return on the combo of still-decent production, name value, and last year's huge numbers if you want to make a move. But don't treat Barkley like an asset you need to dump and undersell him.

He gets the Giants' 32nd-ranked (by DVOA) run defense twice in the next four weeks.