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New Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion will 'lean into' using tush push, making Saquon Barkley 'focal point of our offense' | Latest NFL News, Analysis & Updates | NFL.com

Sean Mannion, new Eagles offensive coordinator, plans to continue using the tush push and make Saquon Barkley a focal point of the offense.

First seen Aug 09, 2026 · 8:30 PM UTC · last updated Aug 10 5:31 PM

Scoring Zone's Take

The offensive-coordinator continuity here is exactly what you want to see for both Hurts and Barkley heading into draft season. With Mannion committing to keep the tush push in the playbook, Hurts retains a near-automatic short-yardage/goal-line rushing package that has consistently padded his floor with rushing touchdowns beyond his passing production. That preserved role protects his QB1-caliber ceiling in fantasy drafts, since a chunk of his value has always been tied to those high-value rushing scores rather than pure volume passing.

The bigger signal is Barkley being named an explicit focal point of the new offense. After a strong platform season in Philadelphia, this confirms the coaching staff isn't pivoting away from a run-heavy approach or diluting his touches with a committee. For draft prep, this should keep Barkley firmly in the RB1 conversation — you're drafting him as a workhorse back in a system that's structurally built around him, not hoping he earns volume game-to-game.

Actionable takeaway: treat Barkley as a locked-in early-round anchor and Hurts as a QB whose rushing equity remains a legitimate market inefficiency versus pocket-passer volume-only quarterbacks — don't let raw passing yardage projections undersell him. Confidence here is high; this isn't speculative "could happen" language, it's a direct statement of offensive philosophy from the new OC covered identically by two separate summaries. No injury, snap-share, or depth-chart complications are mentioned, so there's nothing here to make you hedge on either player's role. Build your draft board treating this backfield/QB touchdown equity as stable and intentional.

New Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion will 'lean into' using tush push, making Saquon Barkley 'focal point of our offense'

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts talks offensive coordinator Sean Mannion with NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo and NFL Network's Brian Baldinger.

When the Philadelphia Eagles rolled to a Super Bowl LIX championship, the offense was propelled by a Saquon Barkley-led second-ranked rushing attack bolstered in short yardage by the tush push.

New Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion is expected to bring about plenty of change to the Philadelphia offense, but he’s not planning to leave the hallmarks of Eagles offensive success behind.

“It's going to be a part of what we do,” Mannion said of the tush push on Saturday, via team transcript. “It's been an extremely effective play here, and we're going to lean into that. It's something that this organization has executed at a high level. So along with many other elements to our offense, certainly it's something that will be a part of it.”

Paramount among those other elements is Barkley. The talented running back was christened AP Offensive Player of the Year during the team’s Super Bowl run, eclipsing 2,000 rushing yards in the regular season and setting a new NFL record for most rushing yards in a single season, including the playoffs.

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After winning the 2024 rushing crown with 2,005 yards and striding to 5.8 yards per carry, Barkley’s 1,140 yards in 2025 were modest in comparison and his 4.1 yards a carry was troubling when considering how he and the Eagles ran roughshod over competition just a season prior.

Barkley believes Mannion’s offense can open up opportunities for him, which is just what the young OC is endeavoring to do.

“Well that's the plan,” Mannion said. “Saquon, he's a tremendous player. Everything we do offensively ultimately is about how do we put all of our players in the best position to succeed. Obviously, Saquon's a focal point of our offense, that goes without saying. We carry that mindset into everything we do schematically, what we're repping at practice and all the different facets of that go hand in hand.”

Mannion, as is the onus for just about any good offense, hopes the running game will open up the passing attack, and vice versa.

Finding a rhythm in the air or on the ground was an arduous task for the 2025 Eagles, as then-offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s squad struggled through the season, stumbling to a 24th ranking in total yards.

“As we build the run game, as we build what we're going to do formationally, you want the play pass game, the keeper game to play off of that,” Mannion said. “All of these things need to marry with one another. We're always trying to maximize our players' skill sets. Saquon, obviously, chief among them, and then all the different things kind of spawn off of that.”

Spectacular as Barkley’s 2024 showing was, his 13 rushing scores didn’t lead the Eagles. Hurts’ 14 ground scores did, with many coming on the ole tush push.

Success spawned off Barkley’s legs and Hurts’ push in 2024. Mannion is tasked with improving what sputtered in 2025, but he’s clearly going to lean on what’s worked in Philadelphia.

According to ESPN, the Eagles converted 96.6% of their tush push attempts on fourth-and-1 situations since 2022 before last season.

Once a hot-button issue that many in the league wanted to ban, the tush push survived a proposal to do away with it after the Eagles’ Super Bowl campaign.

Alas, Philadelphia’s success with the play floundered in 2025, much like every other avenue of the offense.

The running game and Philadelphia's hallmark play is coming back under Mannion. That’s the plan anyhow.

Coverage from Nfl Dot Com News · by Grant Gordon · Aug 09, 2026 · read original