Philadelphia Eagles star Saquon Barkley is not a fan of joint practices.
The Philadelphia Eagles are practicing with the New England Patriots this week and one of the best players on the Eagles hates it.
Superstar Saquon Barkley told reporters after practice on Thursday (8/20) that he hates joint practices.
"I'm the wrong guy to ask because I hate joint practices, to be honest. I think one day is good," Barkley said, via ESPN. "More times than not nothing good comes out of it. When you have the work it's good, but then you get the pushing, the shoving and someone says this about you and it's 'I don't know about that but you're this.' It's immature when you get to that level. I have to do a better job, too, because I'm a little troublemaker sometimes, but I was good this week."
There are always fights during joint practices.
That's one of the seasons Barkley is not a fan of them.
"That's bound to happen after Day 2," Barkley said."Obviously football is a physical game within itself and it's just a little extra pushing and shoving. We've also got to do a better job of not allowing that to have a factor in our practice."
Barkley had 1,140 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns in 2025. The three-time Pro Bowler put up 2,005 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns in his first season with the Eagles in 2024.
Since 2024, Barkley ranks second in 100-plus-yard rushing games (14) behind Baltimore Ravens RB Derrick Henry (17). Barkley helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs in his first season with the Birds.
Philadelphia hired Sean Mannion as its new offensive coordinator for the 2026 season. That means Barkley and Co. are using training camp and preseason to learn the new offense.
"I think it's pretty cool that you start from scratch, learn a new language, get familiar with a new system. It's fun," Barkley said, via Eagles.com. "The way you take it is a little bit different ... as a competitor, you welcome that challenge."
Barkley has played for the New York Giants and Eagles. He enters this season with 8,356 rushing yards and 55 rushing touchdowns.
The Eagles won the NFC East last season. However, they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round of the playoffs at home.
It will be fascinating to see how Philadelphia's offense performs under Mannion's play-calling. Barkley looked like the best player in the NFL during the 2024 season. He came back down to earth in 2025.
