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As he enters his ninth NFL season, Saquon Barkley is 29 years old, just shy of the dreaded 30-year-old threshold for running backs. But Barkley isn't focused on his age, instead keeping his attention on "putting in good, honest work" to get his body prepared for the upcoming campaign.
"For me personally, just being a better athlete playing football," Barkley told Men's Journal about his offseason goals. "Being able to bend better, be able to move better, be able to get into my ankles better, work on my core, work on my feet strength. I've built a foundation. Year 9 into the NFL, if you count college and high school, that's over 15 years of putting hard work into my body. So the foundation is there. How can I improve the foundation? By focusing on the little things that's going to give me the step that I need to take it to another level as I continue to get older and continue to have more carries."
Now, about that honest work. On the day we spoke to Barkley, he was coming off quite the busy morning. The 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year was up at 5:30 and off to the boxing gym at 6 for a two-hour session with teammates.
From there, it was an hour of running hills until 9, and then back to the gym for lower body work for 60-90 minutes.
"That's all great work. That's three to four hours of honest work, that's what we've been calling it," Barkley said. "But you do that for three to four days and you put that at 16 hours of really good work and putting stress on your body. You've got to recover."
Taking time out to rest and recover is something Barkley admittedly struggled with earlier in his career. The three-time Pro Bowler is a massive fan of Kobe Bryant, whose work ethic reached superhuman levels.
"I saw a reel the other day and I actually reached out to the guy. I think he's a basketball coach or speaker. He was speaking on the importance of letting your body heal and taking rest," Barkley said. "We get caught up with Kobe as the prime example of work ethic, right? I think he's like the pinnacle. And this guy is talking about that and he's saying 'Kobe would do these things, but he still would recover. He still was a dad.' It took me a long time to learn that."
This offseason, Barkley and his teammates are also learning a new offensive system. The Eagles fired offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo after an up-and-down 2025 season which saw the team repeat as NFC East champions but lose to the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the playoffs, coming short of a second-straight Super Bowl title.
Sean Mannion was brought in as the new offensive coordinator, meaning Barkley will have had three OCs in as many seasons in Philadelphia. Kellen Moore, who ran the offense in 2024, when Philly won it all and Barkley turned in one of the greatest single-season performances by a running back, is now in his second year as head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
"It's a new system for a lot of guys," Barkley said of working with Mannion. "We get caught up with 'Oh, I had three offensive coordinators.' With KP {Patullo] and Kellen [Moore] and with Nick [Sirianni], a lot of it was the same language. Especially for the offensive line, with Stout, a lot of it was the same language. It's probably a bit harder for a guy like Jalen, because when you've got to hear different coaches, that's a little bit more to adjust. But when Shane [Steichen] and all those guys were here, a lot of it was pretty similar. Now, this is actually the first time where it's a real fresh start for these guys."
"These meetings are a little different," Barkley added. "You're a little more locked in. You're writing a little bit more down. Because it's not like you know this call and what this play is. It's fresh. You're learning. And it's going to challenge you too."
As for Mannion, 34, he's never been an offensive coordinator before. A six-year NFL veteran as a backup quarterback, he spent the last two seasons with the Green Bay Packers, first as an offensive assistant and then as quarterbacks coach.
"I'm excited about what he has to offer and how smart he is, the way he's able to command the room," Barkley said of Mannion. "I don't want to get too much into X's and O's. Obviously, we've still got to get into camp and that was only a brief start in OTAs. But I love what we're going to be able to expand on and the identity that we're building as a team, especially on the offensive side of the ball."
