After winning the 2024 rushing crown with 2,005 yards and striding to 5.8 yards per carry, Barkley’s 1,140 yards in 2025 were modest in comparison and is 4.1 yards a carry was troubling when considering how he and the Eagles ran roughshod over competition just a season prior.
Barkley believes Mannion’s offense [can open up opportunities](https://www.nfl.com/news/saquon-barkley-super-excited-to-work-with-new-eagles-oc-sean-mannion-it-s-refreshing) for him, which is just what the young OC is endeavoring to do.
“Well that's the plan,” Mannion said. “Saquon, he's a tremendous player. Everything we do offensively ultimately is about how do we put all of our players in the best position to succeed. Obviously, Saquon's a focal point of our offense, that goes without saying. We carry that mindset into everything we do schematically, what we're repping at practice and all the different facets of that go hand in hand.”
Mannion, as is the onus for just about any good offense, hopes the running game will open up the passing attack, and vice versa.
Finding a rhythm in the air or on the ground was an arduous task for the 2025 Eagles, as then-offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s squad struggled through the season, stumbling to a 24th ranking in total yards.
“As we build the run game, as we build what we're going to do formationally, you want the play pass game, the keeper game to play off of that,” Mannion said. “All of these things need to marry with one another. We're always trying to maximize our players' skill sets. Saquon, obviously, chief among them, and then all the different things kind of spawn off of that.”
Spectacular as Barkley’s 2024 showing was, his 13 rushing scores didn’t lead the Eagles. Hurts’ 14 ground scores did, with many coming on the ole tush push.
Success spawned off Barkley’s legs and Hurts’ push in 2024. Mannion is tasked with improving what sputtered in 2025, but he’s clearly going to lean on what’s worked in Philadelphia.
According to ESPN, the Eagles converted 96.6% of their tush push attempts on fourth-and-1 situations since 2022 before last season.
Once a hot-button issue that many in the league wanted to ban, the tush push survived a proposal to do away with it after the Eagles’ Super Bowl campaign.
Alas, Philadelphia’s success with the play floundered in 2025, much like every other avenue of the offense.
The running game and Philadelphia's hallmark play is coming back under Mannion. That’s the plan anyhow.