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The Philadelphia Eagles have been one of the busiest teams in the NFL this offseason and have been widely lauded for the decisions they made in free agency and the draft.
The fact that the Eagles have made a concerted effort to adjust their roster over these last several months is not surprising given how things ended for the club last season.
Philadelphia got off to a 10-1 start in 2023, but ended up losing five of its last six games to finish with a record of 11-6. That made Philly the first team in NFL history to not register 12 wins after winning 10 of its first 11 contests.
The Eagles were then routed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
It was hard to figure exactly what happened to Philadelphia in the back half of this past year, but a putrid defense was certainly part of the reason. That's why the Eagles overhauled their secondary in the draft and are hoping for much better results in their defensive backfield in 2024.
However, Philadelphia also made a very big free-agent signing that deviated from its usual norm.
The Eagles signed running back Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million deal.
Why the Eagles signing Saquon Barkley is risky
Philadelphia typically doesn't pay running backs big money. That's why it allowed Miles Sanders to walk last offseason, and it's also why everyone expected Philly to let D'Andre Swift sign elsewhere in March—and he did.
But after watching Swift land a three-year, $24 million contract with the Chicago Bears, the Eagles went and handed a more expensive contract to Barkley.
Barkley was the top halfback available in free agency, and the Birds had been mentioned as potential suitors for him. But seeing Philadelphia actually go out and break character by giving a running back nearly $13 million annually was still a strange sight.
It's also a rather iffy move for Philly in general.
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Why?
Well, Barkley's name sparkles more than his actual production at this point.
The 27-year-old is coming off of a 2023 campaign with the New York Giants in which he rushed for 962 yards and six touchdowns while averaging a pedestrian 3.9 yards per carry. He also missed three games due to an ankle injury.
Yes, Barkley is just two seasons removed from racking up a career-high 1,312 rushing yards, but even then, his efficiency was nothing special, as he logged 4.4 yards per attempt.
But the real issue with the Penn State product is his durability.
Barkley played a full 16 games during his rookie campaign in 2018. That season, he led the NFL with, 2,028 yards from scrimmage. He recorded five yards per tote. He was brilliant. But since then? Barkley has not played one full season. He missed three games in 2019. He tore his ACL after just two contests in 2020. He missed four more games in 2021. He was largely healthy in 2022, playing in 16 of a possible 17 regular-season games. Then, he got hurt again this past year.
Not only that, but Barkley is clearly not the same player anymore. He has averaged under four yards per carry twice over the last three seasons, and his effectiveness as a receiver out of the backfield has significantly dipped.
Perhaps Barkley will flourish more in the Eagles' offense, which is certainly miles ahead of the Giants. But this idea that Barkley is going to step in and take Philadelphia to new heights when he hasn't played a full season since 2018 (and hasn't exactly been elite when he has played) seems like a bit oversell.
Philly may have been better off re-signing Swift or signing another halfback on a more affordable deal.
Maybe the Barkley signing will be a home run for the Eagles, but it just seems hard to imagine based on his lack of durability and overall declining production.
