Last season, the Philadelphia Eagles became the first team to go back-to-back in the NFC East since the 2001-04 Eagles, and they entered the season looking like contenders to make it back-to-back-to-back titles. However, this season hasn’t exactly gone as planned; the injury bug hit Philadelphia hard, most notably knocking star quarterback Jalen Hurts out for the campaign with a blood clot.
The Eagles are just 2-5, and their injury troubles don’t seem to be imminently getting any better. Injuries have limited running back Saquon Barkley, the 2024 Offensive Player of the Year, to just five games, and he doesn’t seem to be trending towards playing in the Week 8 matchup against the Washington Commanders. He didn’t participate in Thursday’s practice while dealing with hamstring and back injuries, per NBC Sports’ Dave Zangaro.
If Barkley can’t go, Philadelphia is perilously thin at running back. Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley, and Dameon Pierce are all on Injured Reserve, leaving Elijah Mitchell and the newly-signed Jaydon Blue as the primary running back options. Blue has been the most-added running back in Yahoo Sports fantasy leagues this week, although he still only graces 5% of rosters.
Results and Usage
Barkley missed both the Eagles’ Week 5 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London and their Week 6 home game against the Carolina Panthers, and Philadelphia’s running game was atrocious in those contests, combining for just 57 total yards. He returned for Week 7 against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, turning nine touches into 71 yards and a score, but he played just 10 snaps before leaving with the back ailment. Pierce turned his 14 carries into 47 yards and a score, with Mitchell adding three carries for 11 yards.
Mitchell has plenty of NFL experience, taking 207 carries for 963 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie with the San Francisco 49ers in 2021, but his carries on Monday night were his first since 2023, thanks to a hamstring injury that cost him the entire 2024 season and his struggles to land a consistent roster spot throughout 2025 and the early part of 2026. Blue, on the other hand, turned 38 carries into 129 yards and one touchdown as a rookie with the Cowboys last season.
Future Outlook
I’d expect Mitchell to handle the lion’s share of the carries if Barkley can’t go on Sunday, given that he at least has a track record of NFL success and Blue does not. His 52.3% success rate across the first three seasons of his career would rank 17th among qualified ball-carriers this season, narrowly behind league rushing leader and Offensive Player of the Year candidate Kenneth Walker III. Mitchell is obviously no Walker, and there’s a reason he’s been mostly out of the NFL for the last three seasons, but he proved to be a semi-reliable backup to Christian McCaffrey in 2023. Blue didn’t qualify for league leaderboards last season, but if he did, he’d have ranked dead last in both success rate and yards per attempt.
It’s also possible that the Eagles lean on their aerial game if their ground game continues to be ineffective, as Tanner McKee threw 45 times in the game against the Panthers (which featured Pierce but no Barkley) and 35 teams against Dallas. In his eight career appearances (four starts), McKee has completed 61.3% of his passes for 1,023 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions (good for an 87.5 passer rating), so he’s certainly a quality backup. He ranks 24th among qualified signal-callers by Pro Football Focus’ standards, above Hurts, and he’s been more aggressive while completing passes at a higher rate. As is, Philadelphia ranks just 30th in rushing attempts per game.
The Commanders’ front seven could make life pretty difficult for Mitchell and Blue. They’ve given up the seventh-fewest FPTS per game to opposing running backs, including the fourth-fewest rushing yards. Washington does get pressure and force hurries at a relatively high rate, which could incentivize McKee to dump it off to one of his running backs, but Blue had just one reception last season and Mitchell, despite a three-catch performance on Monday, has hardly been a dual-threat back throughout his career. DeVonta Smith’s likely absence could complicate matters, but passing against the Commanders’ porous secondary seems the more appealing option. I wouldn’t start either.
