Jalen Hurts is getting the most attention as Eagles training camp opens, but the clearest early sign from Sean Mannion’s new offense may be what it does for the ground game.
Through the first two practices on Wednesday and Thursday, the offense already looks different from what Hurts has operated in during his first five seasons. How that affects Hurts as a passer and runner is still to be determined. What does seem obvious is that the run game should get a lift, especially for Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby.
That would be a welcome change after last season’s collapse on the ground. The Eagles finished with 1,988 rushing yards in 2025 and averaged 4.2 yards per carry, a sharp drop from the 3,048 yards and 4.9 yards per carry they posted in 2024. Barkley still managed 1,140 rushing yards, but that was nowhere near the 2,005-yard season he put together the year before.
Given the circumstances, it’s almost surprising he got that much.
A big part of the problem was up front. The offensive line spent too much of the year banged up and ineffective, and the offense itself was too predictable, putting too much on the linemen.
Cam Jurgens played through a lot of pain and got beaten up regularly. Landon Dickerson was not the same player he had been for most of his career.
Lane Johnson missed the final eight games with a foot injury that was originally expected to keep him out only 2-3 weeks.
The line never really got healthy, and it never really got rolling.
That’s why the early buzz around Johnson and Jordan Mailata matters. Both sounded excited about what they saw during spring practices, and the hope is that this offense gives the line a cleaner job and the backs more room to work.
Bigsby could be part of that jump, too. Acquired at the start of last season, he didn’t become a regular until Week 8 against the Giants, when he broke out with nine carries for 104 yards. He finished with 356 rushing yards on just 63 carries, good for 5.7 yards per attempt.
Last year’s scheme didn’t help matters either. Kevin Patullo’s gameplans were too vanilla and too easy for defenses to read, which made it easier to key in on Barkley. The whole thing worked against the run game instead of feeding it.
The idea now is that Mannion’s offense will be less predictable and more connected, with the run and pass working off each other instead of telegraphing what’s coming next. If that happens, it could take a lot of pressure off Hurts and give the Eagles a much more balanced attack.
There’s enough talent here to imagine both Barkley and Bigsby topping 1,000 rushing yards. Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby will both clear 1,000 yards rushing this season.
And if Mannion’s system ends up looking anything like what’s been seen from San Francisco, Los Angeles or Green Bay, the Eagles’ ground game could climb right back into the league’s top tier.
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