Philadelphia Eagles: The curious case of Saquon Barkley

Saquon Barkley might just be the most curious player in the NFL.

The second-overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Barkley is currently signed to the ninth-largest contract of any running back in the league and might just be the most athletically gifted player at the position right now. His bench, vert, weight, and 40 all rank in the 90th-or-better percentiles according to Mockdraftable, and his tree-trunk legs make him as hard to slow down as he is to tackle.

The only problem? Barkley hasn’t been able to sustain his health for long enough to show it.

Since coming out of Penn State, Barkley has only played a full 16 game season once, in his Pro Bowl-awarded rookie season, but since then, he’s only appeared in 13, two, and six games, respectively, most recently missing time with a rolled ankle and a spot on the COVID list.

When fully healthy and engaged, Barkley can be a weapon as a rusher, a receiver, and even a pass blocker, but so far this season, the former Nittany Lion has only received 20-plus offensive touches once, and that came in a losing effort to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3.

With the Philadelphia Eagles set to take on the New York Giants in Week 12, should fans be worried about the fourth-year rusher? Or is he just a guy unworthy of specific schematic attention?

The Philadelphia Eagles need to key in on Saquon Barkley early.

In the NFL, there are two basic philosophies when it comes to running the ball, either do it early to set a tone or pick up a lead through the air and run the ball late to control the clock.

Doug Pederson rode the second option all the way to the Super Bowl in 2017, and Nick Sirianni, to his credit, went from the latter to the former seemingly overnight midway through the 2021 season, and it’s helped to supercharge the team’s midseason turnaround.

Which camp do the Giants fall into? Well, it’s sort of hard to tell because they’ve found themselves in an awful lot of shootouts since Joe Judge was named head coach in 2020.

In 2020, Daniel Jones attempted the seventh-most fourth-quarter passing attempt (143) of any NFL quarterback at NFL. That’s a lot. He completed 57.3 percent of those passes, which isn’t particularly good, and finished out the season with 809 yards on the season in the fourth quarter, which ranked 20th league-wide.

Fast forward a season into the future, and not much has changed. Jones ranks eighth in attempts, is completing them at a 54.9 percent clip, and has the 23rd most fourth-quarter yards of any quarterback in the NFL, including Jalen Hurts, who ranks 16th.

Why, you may ask, is this relevant? Well, because the Philadelphia Eagles play the New York Giants in Week 12. If they can shut down the run game early on with a steady dose of T.J. Edwards in the middle of the defense, it’ll force Jones to throw the ball more and more with each passing drive, and thus, make the Giants’ offense more one-dimensional and thus beatable.

That’s what the Eagles did in Week 8 versus Detroit and again in Week 11 against the New Orleans Saints, and the strategy worked out very well in both situations.

With Sterling Shepard out and Kadarius Toney doubtful for Week 12, the Giants will likely attempt to go heavy early on, with plenty of between-the-tackles runs by Barkley and former Utah runner Devontae Booker, especially with ex-Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens calling the offense. If these plays are successful, the Giants will likely continue to run the ball early and often and incorporate in the typical perks of having a strong rushing attack like play-action and over-the-top deep shots to speedy receivers like John Ross, who is also questionable for the contest.

Take that away, and Jones will be throwing double-digit passes across the middle of the defense to Darius Slayton and Kenny Golladay, who will surely be covered all afternoon long by his old friend Darius Slay (no relation). I would imagine Jonathan Gannon is more than happy to live with that.

A few years back, Jonathan Gannon would be sweating it out trying to figure out the best way to stop everything Saquon Barkley can do when he takes the field. He’d surely wonder if a safety like Rodney McLeod would need to be deployed as a spy all game long and curse the fact that Davion Taylor, the team’s most athletic linebacker, is on IR. But now, in 2021? Barkley falls right around the middle of the Philadelphia Eagles’ list of concerns heading into Week 12, which is a pretty stark contrast to his former pedigree.