Saquon Barkley had the debut the Philadelphia Eagles anticipated when they signed him. If scoring three touchdowns wasn't the cherry on top, Barkley finished with 132 yards from scrimmage and averaged 5.1 yards per touch.
The Eagles manufactured 26 touches for Barkley, which is certainly considered high for a running back in the opening week. Barkley finished with 24 carries and two receptions in the 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers, as the 26 touches were the most he's had in Week 1.
In today's NFL, that average of touches will have to go down if the Eagles want Barkley to play all 17 games. How are the Eagles going to handle Barkley's workload going forward?
"We'll have a plan for that this week in practice where we can take some of the load off him there," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said on Monday. "Every time you go into the game -- every game is so important in the NFL that it's hard to say -- and when he's got a hot hand like that, too -- to say, 'Hey, you don't want to keep giving him the ball.' You're trying to win every single game that you play.
"That's our job as coaches to manage that throughout the week during practice. Games will take care of themselves as they go. So that will take care of itself throughout the year. As of right now, we handle that through our practice."
Barkley had 24 carries for 109 yards in the win, the most carries he's had in a game since Week 8 of the 2023 season. He had 30+ carries twice in the 2022 season, one which Barkley played all 16 games and was the best offensive player on the Giants, but it affected his performance the next season.
The Eagles will do their best to manage Barkley's workload during the week, similar to how the franchise utilized Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy in their primes. Barkley is on that level, as the Eagles need him fresh on Sundays.
