Imagine spending the whole offseason reviewing the tape of all the players in the NFL and prepping for the all-important fantasy football draft. Who would be the number one overall pick? It could possibly be Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley.
The NFL's number one fantasy football player a season ago appears to have everything in place for another run at being the top player virtually. Fantasy football is a different beast, though, and on-field success will get a player far, but more factors come into play in determining who is the best in fantasy.
Pro Football Focus writer Nathan Jahnke shared his 2025 fantasy football running back rankings. Barkley made the top five, but wasn't able to beat out Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs. The third-place ranking of Barkley is reflective of how he is still great, but may not be able to hit the home run plays he did in 2024.
"Barkley was the second pick in the 2018 draft, finished as the overall RB1 as a rookie and then faced five mixed seasons with the New York Giants before joining the Philadelphia Eagles. He led the league in carries in Philadelphia despite not playing in Week 17. While he didn’t score touchdowns from the one-yard line thanks to the tush push, he more than made up for it with a ridiculous number of long touchdown runs. His long touchdown rate is bound to regress, which will make it harder for him to repeat as the RB1."
Barkley is still a valuable asset in fantasy football
Last season, Barkley dominated the NFL with a league-leading 2,005 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in 16 games. He also had 278 receiving yards and two additional touchdowns to add to his Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and Offensive Player of the Year award.
In fantasy, Barkley finished first at running back and overall with 322. He hadn't completed that high in fantasy football since his rookie season in 2018, when he was the second-best running back and overall player.
The tricky part about Barkley is that he is going to lose those short-yard touchdowns with his quarterback, Jalen Hurts, taking them on the Tush Push play. Barkley was more reliant on long touchdowns to hit the mark he needed to.
It may be more than likely that Barkley will not be able to replicate the 2,000-plus yards he got last year, but he is still going to put up big numbers. With the amount of work the Eagles have done during offseason workouts to include running backs in the passing game, it might only mean Barkley could see more touches through the air than on the ground
Eagles fans will have no trouble selecting Barkley at the top of their fantasy drafts, and the rest of the virtual owners would be smart to do the same.
What a world Philadelphia Eagles fans live in, where they know the true greatness of their starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts, but some are just obvious to them.
This offseason has been a circus of commentary on Hurts and whether he should be considered one of the elite quarterbacks. Some experts have put him in the conversation with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. At the same time, some don't even put him in the top 10.
CBS Sports writer Cody Benjamin dissected the most talked-about quarterbacks and whether they are overrated or underrated. Hurts was placed in the "underrated" category.
"Wait, really? The reigning Super Bowl MVP is underrated? It sure seems like it. You won't find anyone who puts up a fight when you mention Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen in lists of elite quarterbacks. Throw Hurts' name in there, however, and all of a sudden you're clawing for your life. But since when did gaudy stats and pretty highlights mean more than, you know,? Hurts played more of a background role in the Philadelphia Eagles' historic Super Bowl LIX run, but too many people forget he's now giventwochampionship-caliber performances at that stage. And he's still just 26! He may not be flawless, but he's close to inevitable."
Maybe to the rest of the NFL, but Hurts is far from underrated
Here we go again, having to justify what the rest of the league should know by now: Hurts is a great quarterback. He has two Pro Bowl selections, one All-Pro selection, two Super Bowl appearances, one Super Bowl win, and one Super Bowl MVP. He's done that in just five years, and he was on the bench for most of his rookie season in 2020.
Nobody likes to admit it publicly, but they don't like the fact that Hurts didn't throw for over 3,000 yards, ignoring how much he has improved as a passer and his rushing abilities. He completed 68.7% of his passes and had a passer rating of 103.7 in 2024, both of which were career highs for the young quarterback. He also contributed to 32 touchdowns.
Suppose fans want to delve even deeper into the data. In that case, Pro Football Reference lists Hurts with a career-best 13.4% of his passes being considered "bad throws," alongside 79.1% of his passes being on target, also a career best. His ability to pick up yards on scrambles should be acknowledged, as he averaged a career-high 9.4 yards per scramble. Hurts was getting first downs on all 39 of his scrambles.
The "cool" thing this offseason is to go against the grain and say that Hurts is not a great quarterback when the data is saying otherwise. Hurts will never be the quarterback to throw it for 4,000 to 5,000 yards and 40 touchdowns a season. Philadelphia doesn't need him to.
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Hurts doesn't have to apologize for having the best offensive line with the best running game in the NFL. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. The Eagles will continue to hammer the ball on the ground, and Hurts will continue to throw perfect deep balls to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
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