Inside the Eagles' Load Management Plan With Superstar

Saquon Barkley has touched the football a lot this season and it may bot be sustainable for 17 games.

Nov 3, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) walks off the field after win against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - It seems like every week Nick Sirianni gets asked the Saquon Barkley question.

Barkley already has 177 touches for 1,071 yards from scrimmage through the Eagles’ 6-2 start, an average of 22.1 touches per game. That's on pace for 376 touches over 17 games for the three-time NFC Offensive Player of the Week this season.

Sirianni has been pretty consistent in his mindset of doing what it takes to win games.

“You try to take care of them and do what you need to do to win each and every football game,” the Eagles coach said

From the outset, team sources have said Barkley’s load management will take place during the week and Sirianni went on the record with that sentiment on Monday.

“You try to take care of [the players] throughout the week,” he said. “... So you try to monitor it as much as you possibly can. And that's really our jobs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and being aware of it on Sunday.”

Barkley was estimated as a limited participant in Wednesday’s walkthrough with a rest designation and seemed to be embarking on another scaled-back day on Thursday. The superstar probably won't be doing too much heavy lifting in practice for the rest of the regular season.

The Eagles have also had the luxury of sitting starters in a couple of recent blowout wins against the Giants and the Bengals where they were able to get backup Kenny Gainwell and rookie WIll Shipley some touches instead of ticking up Barkley’s odometer even more.

“I think the two games – obviously not last game [against Jacksonville], but the game before that and the game before that – we were able to get him out in the fourth quarter,” Sirianni said.

The thought behind the approach is the common sense belief that you can’t legislate injuries but can somewhat limit the grind when it comes to preparation. 

“Always considering that with each and every one of our players with load management. I think our strength and conditioning staff and our trainers and our doctors give me really good insight on how to do that,” Sirianni said. 

“And give our staff really good insight on how to do that. Yeah, [it’s always] always on our mind with how many touches he has.”

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