Why Saquon Barkley is ‘super excited' to play for new Eagles OC Sean Mannion originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
After living through one year of Kevin Patullo’s offense, Saquon Barkley loves what he sees so far from Sean Mannion’s scheme.
Barkley spoke with Tom Pelissero and Judy Battista of NFL Network on Friday, his first public comments since Mannion replaced Patullo as Eagles offensive coordinator and play caller.
“Hey, I’m super excited about it,” he said. “I’m going on year nine, which is crazy to say, and I’ve had a lot of different coaches and head coaches and been a part a lot of systems and I don’t think I really came across a system like this, and for me it’s just refreshing when you get something new (and) you get to learn something new.
“I got to meet him. We didn’t really talk about X’s and O’s, it was just an introduction and got to meet a lot of the new guys on (the coaching staff). But as a competitor, you love it. You love the challenge of putting yourself in a new system and doing the things that you do really well and also things that you need to improve on and that they’re going to challenge us to do.
“And I feel like we are able to have that mindset as an offense and buy into that. I think the sky’s the limit.”
A year after winning the Super Bowl with Kellen Moore calling the plays and Barkley having a historic season, the Eagles ranked in the bottom 10 in every major offensive category last year in Patullo’s one season running the offense.
Mannion comes from the Mike Shannon tree, having played under Sean McVay with the Rams and coached in Green Bay under Matt LaFleur, who worked with Mike and Kyle Shanahan.
“Very creative, super smart,” Barkley said. “All the guys that we hired are super smart and competitive. They want to be great, and they’re excited with the talent that we have.
“And I think we buy in to everything that’s new and continue to grow. We have our standard and all the things that we do at a high level. I feel like what we did last year is gonna be in the past. You gotta learn from it, and I know we have the guys that are willing to learn from it.
“We just have to go out there in OTAs and get ready and compete there and learn the play book. We have the talent. We have talent and we have great coaches. Now we just have to put it all together.
“We’ve made a lot of changes on offense with the coaching staff. So excited to get in the building and learn something new. And just go out on the field and put the last year in the past.”
Barkley, whose rushing total dropped from 2,005 yards during the 2024 Super Bowl season to just 1,140 yards last year, said he’s revamped his offseason routine as he gets older and deeper into his career.
“When I was younger, I used to get right after it and I was, I mean, ‘How many weights I can lift? How fast can I run? How strong can I get? Etc., etc., etc. And it’s still that mindset, just in a different way. I’m attacking the angles I’m trying to get into. How can I get into my knees and my ankles better, my hips better? How can I continue to stay healthy?
“How can I just be a better athlete, a better athlete that plays better? So it’s not really the mindset of putting 500 pounds on your back right now. Like I’m working on trampolines. I’m working literally like little stuff with a hula hoop of getting my body coordination back together.
“All these things that I’m super excited and it’s new and it’s different, but you know, you want to play as long as you can and I want to be super successful for a very long time. So you got to change it up and I feel like it’s been helpful and I have a routine now that I love and I just have to continue to stick with it.”