Who Should I Start? Saquon Barkley or James Cook III

Wednesday, July 22, 7:53 PM

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley finished outside the top 10 at the RB position in 2025 in his second year with the Eagles despite running for 1,140 yards on 280 rushing attempts and catching 37 passes for 237 yards and two more TDs as a pass-catcher. The three-time Pro Bowler's second year in Philly was a pretty big disappointment after he led the league in 2024 in carries (345), rushing yards (2,005), and yards per game (125.3). The 29-year-old three-time Pro Bowler still had over 4.0 yards per carry, but he was held hostage by a lackluster Eagles offense, which was the worst of head coach Nick Sirianni's tenure. Nobody should be expecting Barkley to approach his numbers from his magical 2024 season, but if Philly gets better injury luck with their offensive line and if the offense as a whole can bounce back under new coordinator Sean Mannion, Barkley could return to high-end RB1 status in fantasy football at a reduced cost in 2026 after his disappointment last year. At the very worst, Barkley should be considered a midrange RB1 with a high floor, and he could be involved even more now that receiver A.J. Brown is out of town.