Fantasy Football Profile: Saquon Barkley 2025 Outlook
Updated: Saturday, June 28, 2025
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley made history in 2024 — both in terms of production and workload.
Barkley became only the ninth running back in league history to eclipse the 2,000-yard rushing milestone. While Barkley sat out Week 18 instead of chasing Eric Dickerson's single-season record set in 1984, he was only 100 yards shy of tying the record (2,105).
The Eagles rested many of their starters including Barkley in Week 18, but he led the NFL in rushing yards (2,005) and yards from scrimmage (2,283) last season. He also tied a previous career high (set in his rookie campaign) of 15 combined touchdowns.
Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs had a monster Week 18 performance (43.5 fantasy points), but no running back scored more fantasy points in 2024 than Barkley, who averaged more fantasy points per game (21.2) than in any of his previous seasons except for his rookie campaign (21.3).
Barkley played only two games in 2020, but he averaged anywhere in between 9.2 (2021) and 16.8 (2019) fantasy points per game in his non-rookie seasons with the New York Giants.
Impacts of playing with a dual-threat quarterback
A major difference between Barkley's statistical output as a rookie versus last year was the reduction of his receiving role.
| Season | G | REC | YDS | TD | REC FPTS | REC FPPG | % of FPPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 16 | 91 | 721 | 4 | 141.6 | 8.85 | 41.7% |
| 2024 | 16 | 33 | 278 | 2 | 56.3 | 3.52 | 16.6% |
Barkley set per-game career lows in receptions (2.1), targets (2.7), and receiving yards (17.4) in 2024. Playing with Jalen Hurts, an elite dual-threat quarterback who led all quarterbacks in rush attempts (150) in 2024, that was a concern heading into his first season as an Eagle. Of course, his elite rushing production more than compensated for the career lows as a receiver.
Not only does Barkley benefit from running behind an elite offensive line and being flanked by talented wideouts — A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith — to keep opposing defenses honest, the threat of Hurts running also helps Barkley's efficiency. He set a career high in yards per carry (5.8), which is more than a yard better than his career average (4.7).
The other negative impact of Hurts on Barkley is the potential to vulture short-yardage touchdowns. While Barkley set a career high with 13 rushing scores, he finished second on the team behind Hurts (14). As noted in our Jalen Hurts fantasy football profile, no player has rushed for more touchdowns since 2021 than Hurts (52).
Barkley's 2024 workload was a decade high
Yes, he led the NFL in carries and touches, as noted above, but Barkley and the Eagles played another four games en route to their Super Bowl LIX victory. In the postseason, Barkley racked up an additional 91 rush attempts and 13 receptions through four playoff games.
Adding in his 104 playoff touches, Barkley had nearly 100 more than the next closest back (Kyren Williams). In fact, he had 150-plus more than all but four other backs — Williams (389), Derrick Henry (386), Bijan Robinson (365), and Josh Jacobs (358).
In addition, Barkley's 2024 workload was the most in a decade and the third most since 2000.
| Rank | Player | Team | Season | G | Touch | YFS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeMarco Murray | DAL | 2014 | 18 | 497 | 2486 |
| 2 | Eddie George | TEN | 2000 | 17 | 488 | 2105 |
| 3 | Saquon Barkley | PHI | 2024 | 20 | 482 | 2857 |
| 4 | Larry Johnson | KC | 2006 | 17 | 475 | 2260 |
| 5 | Edgerrin James | IND | 2000 | 17 | 474 | 2443 |
Barkley played a full season other than a rest week in the regular-season finale. Before that, however, he missed at least three games in four of the previous five seasons. He's built to handle heavy workloads, and although he seems superhuman at times (see reverse leapfrog below), the 2024 outlier workload adds to the potential of injury risk in his upcoming age-29 season.
Saquon is SICK!!!
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) November 3, 2024
I’ve never seen a guy jump over someone backwards before in my life. pic.twitter.com/b0Kgx6tNtP
Saquon Barkley Full-Season Projections
Here are our full-season projections for Barkley:
| Rush | RuYD | RuTD | Rec. | ReYD | ReTD | Fantasy Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 295.9 | 1420.3 | 10.36 | 34.65 | 252.87 | 1.76 | 257.37 |
More projections:
Bottom Line
In many fantasy football drafts this summer, Barkley will go off the board with the 1.01 or 1.02 pick. Should a younger back with less cumulative wear and tear, such as Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs, go ahead of Barkley, especially as both should also outproduce him as a receiver? Or should Ja'Marr Chase (or even other wide receivers) go before Barkley? Chase is coming off the receiving triple crown in his age-24 season and is just entering his prime. Without question, I would take Chase with the first overall pick in drafts.
While it would reasonable to take Barkley at 1.02, I would take Bijan Robinson (the RB1 in both my rankings and full-season projections) before Barkley. Yes, Barkley is an elite talent who dominated touches — 79.86% of RB carries and 70.49% of RB targets through Week 17 — on the league's most talented roster. Positive game scripts should lead to elite production week in and week out, but considering his historic 2024 workload, durability history, lack of receiving (in this offense), I'd much rather have Robinson (and potentially Jahmyr Gibbs), especially if at a lower draft position.