With the Philadelphia Eagles making a change in offensive philosophy, their star has reached out to former Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley for advice on how to play in the scheme.
Saquon Barkley Gets Insight on New Offensive Scheme from Former Star Todd Gurley
After a down offensive season in 2025, where the Eagles finished at the bottom of the league in many offensive categories, changes were needed. First-time offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo ran the offense after replacing Kellen Moore, who had gone on to get a head coaching job after helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl during the 2024 season.
Patullo was the brunt of the Eagles’ offensive criticism last year, as Philly’s offense often felt stale and at times struggled to get the ball into the hands of its best playmakers. Patullo was fired, and after an extensive search this offseason for his replacement, the Eagles decided to hire Sean Mannion, who had been with the Green Bay Packers the last couple of seasons as a quarterbacks coach and an offensive assistant.
Mannion’s background comes from the Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan-style offenses, which feature many under-center plays and zone-run schemes. As a player, he played under McVay and spent time under Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. One of the stars in the McVay/Shanahan offense was former Rams star RB, Gurley. In three seasons with McVay from 2017-2019, Gurley was an Offensive Player of the Year and a two-time first team All-Pro selection. He also led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in both 2017 and 2018, helping the Rams reach the Super Bowl in 2018. Barkley spoke with the media after Organized Team Activities and gave people a glimpse of how he has been learning Mannion’s offense.
“It’s not a big secret what this system is about,” Saquon Barkley said to the media in reference to Mannion’s offensive system. “One guy I’ve been focusing on while learning the offense is Todd Gurley. I’ve spoken with him a little bit on Instagram, and I’ve been watching his film and what he did on those offenses while he was healthy.”
Other notable active running backs who have been in similar offenses include Bijan Robinson, Christian McCaffrey, and Kyren Williams. Each player has produced strong numbers in their own right over the last couple of seasons. Barkley is coming off a down year in which teams heavily keyed in on him after breaking records in the 2024 season.
Barkley will likely play a big role early in the season as the offense gets comfortable as a whole with such a drastic change of scheme. Leaning on the running game with Barkley will help keep Jalen Hurts from having to shoulder the offensive load and be able to take his time with the new things he will be asked to do. Utilizing Barkley early and often will also help Mannion as a first-time play caller.
Gurley was definitely one of the better players in the league playing in the McVay/Shanahan system, and Barkley hopes to return to those heights as well after experiencing in 2024, rushing for over 2,000 yards and winning Offensive Player of the Year.
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