Eagles Running Back Has Plenty To Prove After Steep Drop in NFL's Top 100 Countdown

Most players on Eagles roster have something to prove as training camp opens, some more than others.

May 30, 2024; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) runs with the ball during practice at NovaCare Complex. Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA – The 2024 season is here and it begins Wednesday morning when Nick Sirianni conducts the first news conference of Eagles training camp. The time of the coach's presser was bumped up by half an hour, so he will take the stage inside the media tent off the team’s practice fields at NovaCare Complex at 9 a.m.

Go down the Eagles’ roster and most of the 90 payers have something to prove.

What does Brandon Graham have left at 36? This will be his 15th and final camp, but he’s not planning on riding into the sunset.

“I'm gonna be a part of the Eagles organization for sure,” he said. “As a player, this will be my last little hurrah.”

A sampling of other players whose proving process will begin on the fierst day of training camp practice:

Jalen Hurts: Was the quarterback’s 2022 season more his norm than the one he went through last year?

Bryce Huff: Was last year’s first double-digit sack season for the defensive end a fluke or is the Jets’ undrafted free agent in 2020 an ascending player?

Eagles edge rusher Bryce Huff. / John McMullen/Eagles SI

Cam Jurgens: Can he play center the way the team hoped when they used a second-round pick on him in 2022?

The list goes on. Some without anything to really prove include the two stud receivers, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

NFL Media has begun its countdown of the top 100 players and Smith checked in at No. 90, which is up 10 spots than last year when he was No. 100. The players are selected based on votes of players around the league. Ten players each day will be revealed with the top 10 released on Aug. 2.

Brown will certainly finish high.

Then there’s Saquon Barkley. The Eagles running back fell off considerably from last year’s list. He checked in at No. 86. A year ago, when he was the New York Giants, he checked in at No. 31.

Think he doesn’t want to prove he is healthy and ready to reel off, say, 1,500 total yards?

Now 27, the knock on Barkley has been his health. He has missed 21 games from 2020-23, including three last year.

When healthy, though, there are few better. He is one of just six players in NFL history to average 70-plus yards rushing and 25-plus yards receiving per game in his career. Last year, he had 962 yards on the ground with 41 receptions for 280 more yards. He totaled 10 touchdowns, six on the ground and four in the air.

Former Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick, who was traded to the Jets in the offseason and is currently holding out of camp looking for a new contract, was on the list at No. 87 a year after checking at No. 48.

More NFL: Eagles Rookie DB To Start Training Camp On NFI List