Amid a disaster season for the Philadelphia Eagles, even when they get players back from injury something new pops up. That is most recently the case with star running back Saquon Barkley.
The 29-year-old missed Weeks 5 and 6 of the NFL season with a right hamstring injury. He returned during Week 7 on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys only to go down in the first quarter with a back injury and not play the rest of the game.
The Eagles lost that game 38-21 as their injured defense could not stop the Cowboys’ ground game. Philadelphia is now 2-5 and third place in the NFC East division while Dallas climbed to second place.
With the question of the new back injury still looming, early indications for Barkley’s Week 8 status do not look good. Brooks Kubena of The Athletic reported Thursday that the RB was not at practice for the second straight day.
Even if Barkley can go in limited fashion at Friday’s practice, his availability for Sunday’s game at the Washington Commanders is in serious jeopardy. If he cannot go, then the Eagles backfield room gets really dicey with Dameon Pierce just landing on injured reserve.
Barkley has essentially played just two full games this season, but he did excel in both. During those games (Weeks 1 and 3), he produced 30 total carries for 165 yards. The problem is that he has barely played overall.
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He has appeared in five total games, but has played less than 20 percent of the snaps in three of those due to injury. In the two healthy contests he put up percentages exceeding 70.
There has been some trade deadline buzz including Barkley’s name, but right now he and the Eagles are focused on not dropping to 2-6 in Week 8. That game will kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday.
