'I hate joint practices,' Eagles star Barkley says

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  Tim McManusAug 20, 2026, 02:57 PM ET

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  Tim McManus covers the Philadelphia Eagles for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2016 after covering the Eagles for Philadelphia Magazine's Birds 24/7, a site he helped create, since 2010.

FOXBOROUGH -- Count Eagles running back Saquon Barkley among those who are happy the joint practices with the New England Patriots are now behind them.

"I'm the wrong guy to ask because I hate joint practices to be honest. I think one day is good," he said when asked about the benefits Thursday.

"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."

"Good" might be relative as Barkley -- always known to mix it up with the defense during practice -- appeared to be at the center of at least one scrum Thursday. During a separate sequence, Philadelphia tackle Lane Johnson and New England linebacker K.J. Britt were grabbing each other by the facemask. To Barkley's point, there were several skirmishes between the Patriots and Eagles on the day, mostly between the Eagles offense and Patriots defense.

"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."

The general consensus was that the joint practices were beneficial overall for the Eagles, who are installing a new offense under coordinator Sean Mannion. The new wide zone running scheme appeared effective, with Barkley and company breaking off several long runs, while the passing game showed it still is in the midst of the learning curve, as evidenced by Jalen Hurts' five interceptions over two days.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio appeared to get plenty out of it, too, singing a much different tune than Barkley.

"I love doing these things. I think these things are great," he said. "I wish we would do another one. It's great to go against a new team, new schemes, new players. You learn things. You're going to get unscouted looks and plays and see how people react. These things are tremendous and can't get enough of it."