Eagles Favored to Sign RBs Saquon Barkley, Dalvin Cook; Realistic?

The Philadelphia Eagles are among the top three teams to land either Saquon Barkley or Dalvin Cook, but is it realistic?

It’s not the Philadelphia Eagles’ style to pay running backs big bucks on a multiple-year contract. Unless you’re LeSean McCoy, as general manager Howie Roseman pointed out before training camp began last July.

The issue is that McCoy’s second contract with the Eagles came a decade ago, and he was the last RB they drafted to get a second deal.

Maybe Kenny Gainwell will break that streak. He is in the final year of his rookie contract and has a salary cap charge of $1.1 million. He is the only running back under contract.

“We're trying to keep the guys that we draft for as long as possible,” said Roseman. “I think the way we look at our running back room, it just worked out that a lot of these guys are on one-year deals, but we value the running back position.”

Roseman was referring at the time to D’Andre Swift, Rashaad Penny, and Boston Scott. It’s a new year and the room will need rebuilt.

There are a pair of interesting free agents, two of whom keep popping up as odds-on-favorites to join the Eagles.

They are Saquon Barkley and Dalvin Cook.

Saquon Barkley / USA Today

Bookies.com oddsmaker Adam Thompson has developed hypothetical odds as to where each running back will end will play in 2024.

The Eagles have second-best odds to land Barkley at +400 (20 percent) behind the only team Barkley has ever played for, the New York Giants, and ahead of the Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and, tied for fifth, the Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders.

Thompson has Cook at +500 (16.7 percent) behind the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals and ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers.

The Eagles would have selected Cook in the second round back in the 2017 draft, but the Minnesota Vikings traded two spots ahead of them. Philly ended up taking cornerback Sidney Jones.

Cook is 28 now but may be willing to take a one-year deal after not being very productive last year.

After being released by the Vikings, he went to the New York Jets but didn’t find much of a role there for him. He then went to the Baltimore Ravens to help with their playoff run. Cook had just 67 carries for 214 yards and did not score a touchdown.

Barkley, who just turned 27, could give the Eagles a hometown discount of sorts after playing his high school ball at Whitehall in the Lehigh Valley, just an hour or so outside of Philly. It’s not likely, though. Even a hometown discount would probably start at least $12M per year.

The Giants could franchise tag Barkley again for what is expected to be $11.3 million. He has a history of knee injuries, but he seems to be healthy again and would certainly be dangerous in any offense.

Then there’s D’Andre Swift, another free agent, who topped 1,000 yards in his first and only season in Philly this past year.

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There are other top running back names on the free agent board including Josh Jacobs and Austin Ekeler, but they will command a lot of money and could be franchised tagged.

The thing about the running back market, though, is the Eagles aren’t the only ones who don’t invest much of their salary cap in one.

Perhaps more realistic options for the Eagles in free agency are Derrick Henry, who is on the downside of his career and could accept a one-year deal, and maybe Zack Moss or A.J. Dillon.

Then, of course, there is the draft, where the Eagles will likely spend one of their picks at that position. Just how high they would go for one?