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In a World of Fake Eagles Concerns, Here’s a Real One
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Would it be a hot take to say that the Eagles’ run game is a bigger concern than the passing game? Speaking relatively, of course, since the Birds are 4-0 and have won 20 of their last 21 games going back to Week 1 of last season. There’s little to be truly concerned about, but if you’ve watched even ten minutes of these first four games, you know that the record-breaking ground attack of last season has looked mostly average.
The problem, more specifically, is that the holes just haven’t been there, supported by the following Saquon Barkley statistics:
| Saquon Barkley | 2025 season | 2024 season |
|---|---|---|
| yards before contact | 1.7 per carry | 3.8 per carry |
| TLOS (time behind line of scrimmage) | 2.98 seconds on average | 2.77 seconds on average |
| rush vs. heavy boxes (8 or more defenders) | 35.06% | 36.81% |
| broken tackles | 1.00 per game | 1.56 per game |
| yards after contact | 1.4 per carry | 2.0 per carry |
1) Yards before contact really tells the story. Saquon was getting almost four yards on average last season before a defender would lay a hand on him, which is an incredible number. Now it’s down more than two full yards, to 1.7. Last season, he was #3 in the entire league, behind only Jayden Daniels and Lamar Jackson, and this year Saquon has fallen all the way to #38 in this category.
2) TLOS is an NFL Next Gen Stat, which measures how much time a player spends behind the line of scrimmage per rushing attempt. This requires context, as some guys get more pitches and sweeps and run more slow-developing outside zone plays, but Saquon’s number is just slightly worse than it was last season.
3) One of things you’d think might be affecting the run game is defenses stacking the box, but that’s not happening here. This number is actually down 1.8% according to our Sportradar data, so we can remove it from the equation.
4) In terms of broken tackles and yards after contact, which are spiritually connected, you see the same dip in production. Saquon is not traditionally a top-20 tackle breaker, and is more of a home run hitter, but he finished with the 12th-most broken tackles in 2024 and is down in the 20s this year. And yards after contact per attempt, he’s currently 39th overall, down from 28th last year. Notable here is that it’s much easier to break tackles when you get bigger holes and find yourself in open field situations with smaller safeties and corners. Obviously you’re breaking fewer tackles when a 320-pound DT has his mitts on you.
If you look at the data beyond just Saquon carries, it’s largely the same. As a team, the Eagles are bottom eight in yards before contact, just 2.0 total. They’re bottom five in yards after contact as well. The heavy box team number is skewed because of the Tush Push, but no Eagles ball handler is getting big holes or pushing through those holes at the same rate as last season.
stats from Sportradar, NFL NextGen, and Pro Football Reference
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com