Another offseason, another free-agent running back coming to Philadelphia thinking he can squat more in the weight room than Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Philadelphia lost its No. 2 running back, Kenneth Gainwell, to the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency, and the Eagles signed running back A.J. Dillon from the Green Bay Packers.
A neck injury sidelined Dillon for the entire 2024 season. In the previous four seasons, Dillon ran for 2,428 yards and 16 touchdowns on 597 carries and caught 86 passes for 763 yards and two touchdowns in 60 regular-season games for Green Bay.
The 247-pound running back carries the nickname Quadzilla because of his thighs, and during his introductory press conference in Philadelphia, Dillon was asked if he could squat more weight than Hurts.
Dillon was not surprised by the question. Hurts famously squatted 600 pounds at Oklahoma, where he played one season between his three seasons at Alabama and five seasons with Philadelphia.
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Last year, when running back Saquon Barkley joined the Eagles as a free agent, he was asked if he could squat more than Hurts.
“That’s not even close,” Barkley said during an appearance on the “New Heights” podcast of Jason and Travis Kelce. “I don’t do that no more, but when I was really in that mindset of squatting and squat-off, I would put myself up there with a lot of people.”
The Eagles’ social media later carried video of Hurts and Barkley going squat for squat in offseason workouts at the NFL team’s facility.
“I don’t think it was competition,” Barkley said at the time. “That’s the thing you love about being here. You come in, you buy into the culture. I haven’t squatted like that for a long time. It’s amazing when you have your quarterback doing that.”
In his first season with the Eagles, Barkley posted the ninth 2,000-yard rushing performance in NFL history. After running for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns on 345 carries in 16 regular-season games, Barkley ran for 499 yards and five touchdowns on 91 carries in four postseason contests as Philadelphia won the NFL championship.
“There’s a lot of quads over here,” Dillon said. “My friends have been sending me the tweets and everything like that. It’s funny, but I’m excited and excited to get in there and lift some weight.”
Dillon said he hadn’t max-squatted since his sophomore year of college, but he can be ready to show out when Philadelphia’s offseason program starts.
“We’ve been going for reps,” Dillon said. “We’ll have to put some extra weight on there to get ready for the comp.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.