The tips Barkley and Gurley shared revolved around running the quarterback under center, something that will become much more common in Philly’s offense this year.
For a number of reasons, Barkley likes the change.
“Under center, you see a little more clearly. You’re not blinded,” Barkley said. “When you’re in the shotgun, you’re really focused on the sideline. You’re able to get your shoulders straight easier, like when you have a run-in. From the shotgun, you have to work on getting your shoulders straight so you can see the whole field. From the middle, it’s easier, you can get downhill a little faster. You can threaten them with a lot more stretches and that’s a unique area you can do.
“And, yeah, it’s no secret what this system is about. I’m looking forward to doing it. It’s probably going to be the most I’ve done it under center and out of the zone and all that good stuff. It’s a challenge that I’m looking forward to working on and getting better at and trying to be the best at.”
He could also use a refresher.
Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in his 2024 campaign and won Offensive Player of the Year en route to winning the Lombardi Trophy with the Eagles. Stagnation followed throughout Philly’s offense last season. Barkley was certainly affected, often unable to find the same space to operate in and at times looking worn down after recording a league-leading 345 the previous season. He finished with 1,140 rushing yards in 2025, 54 fewer yards per game and 1.7 fewer yards per carry than his rookie year with the Eagles.
“I turned it over pretty quickly,” Barkley said when asked how quickly he turned the page. “You get that little meltdown, I guess you could call it, for two or three weeks, but everything happens for a reason. Obviously, we didn’t like how the season ended. I personally didn’t like how my year went. I don’t like how I performed for the team. I don’t feel like I performed high enough.
“That’s the beauty of it. It’s easy when you rush all the yards and win the Super Bowl, it’s easy to watch film and move on to the next chapter. But when it doesn’t go the way you want it to, you have to lock yourself in even more, be more thorough in yourself, be more critical of yourself. You have to be your biggest self-critic and you can only see what you can see the film better. find the weaknesses that you were missing in the year before and you just hit the wall afterwards.”
Barkley is determined to come back stronger in his age-29 season, a point where quarterbacks often begin to slow down.
The system could help with that, as well as an extended offseason recovery period — the silver lining for the Eagles who failed to defend their Super Bowl title. Between the regular season and the playoffs that ended in the Wild Card round, Barkley caught 130 fewer passes in 2025 compared to 2024.
“It’s a little easier when you don’t have to prepare right after the Super Bowl,” Barkley said. “The season wasn’t as long as we’d like, but yeah, you get a little more time to work on yourself. I felt like I could get in better shape when I started. I think that’s a given for everybody, just the fact that you have extra weeks to prepare. It’s been fun. It’s been a fun summer break. Got some time to relax my body again and relax my body again now. That.”