Saquon Barkley’s workload, a quiet trade deadline, and more are discussed in Gameday Central Extra

On this edition of Gameday Central Extra, Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith discuss the team’s standout rookies, whether Saquon Barkley’s heavy workload is sustainable, and why Howie Roseman chose to stand pat ahead of the NFL trade deadline. Here are some highlights and clips from the conversation …

Do you agree with the decision to not do anything at the trade deadline?

EJ: I do think it was probably the right call to stand pat at the trade deadline, although it is definitely against Howie Roseman’s track record while he’s been the GM of the Eagles, for sure. So yeah, I mean, I think when you look at the players that ended up getting traded at and near the deadline, it really stands out that a lot of them were wide receivers and cornerbacks, and those are positions that the Eagles don’t really have immediate needs at.

Olivia: I think what surprises me the most, and given the investment that was made in Barkley on this three-year deal, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but just the workload that he has been able to shoulder through this season has been really staggering, honestly, and somewhat surprising, at least to me. He right now he is averaging a career-high 19.6 rushing attempts per game. My question now is whether that is going to be sustainable for the rest of the season?

Sirianni has talked about the fact that it is always a consideration in their mind that they work closely with the training staff and the medical staff to make sure that they’re doing the best things for their players, especially throughout the week, to make sure that they are staying fresh and healthy and getting ready for this game.

On this edition of Gameday Central Extra, Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith discuss the team’s standout rookies, whether Saquon Barkley’s heavy workload is sustainable, and why Howie Roseman chose to stand pat ahead of the NFL trade deadline. Here are some highlights and clips from the conversation …

Do you agree with the decision to not do anything at the trade deadline?

EJ: I do think it was probably the right call to stand pat at the trade deadline, although it is definitely against Howie Roseman’s track record while he’s been the GM of the Eagles, for sure. So yeah, I mean, I think when you look at the players that ended up getting traded at and near the deadline, it really stands out that a lot of them were wide receivers and cornerbacks, and those are positions that the Eagles don’t really have immediate needs at.

I mean, obviously, like wide receiver, maybe they could have used a depth addition, but the guys who were going to come in weren’t really good fits for that, in my opinion, DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Williams, you know, guys like that are more number two receivers. Maybe, you know, number three receivers for teams that maybe use their number three receiver more often. So I definitely think when you think of the positions that were actively moved, I think that it didn’t really fit what the Eagles wanted. Last week, I mentioned I think they needed an impact player more than they just needed, you know, a rotational piece. When you look at the edge rushers that got traded, Za’Darius Smith and Baron Browning, those guys are more rotational players.

Olivia: I think what surprises me the most, and given the investment that was made in Barkley on this three-year deal, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but just the workload that he has been able to shoulder through this season has been really staggering, honestly, and somewhat surprising, at least to me. He right now he is averaging a career-high 19.6 rushing attempts per game. My question now is whether that is going to be sustainable for the rest of the season?

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Saquon Barkley isn’t concerned with his heavy workload: ‘Y’all shouldn’t worry about it’

Sirianni has talked about the fact that it is always a consideration in their mind that they work closely with the training staff and the medical staff to make sure that they’re doing the best things for their players, especially throughout the week, to make sure that they are staying fresh and healthy and getting ready for this game. I think it’s also notable that he isn’t being utilized as much as a receiver in this offense as he was in New York, and perhaps that has enabled him to shoulder a heavier workload on the ground. He has, of course, made an impact as a receiver, as we just most recently saw with his touchdown this past weekend against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Still has that element within his game. It just hasn’t been as much of a focal point in this offense.

As much as I think we both knew that Saquon Barkley could be a good fit in this Eagles offense, I think it is still even surprising to a degree how good it has been to this point for him in his career in Philadelphia.

Is Barkley better with the Eagles than expected when he signed with the team?

EJ: I think it’s fair to say that he has been better than expected. I think when you look at some of the advanced metrics, obviously, like the combination of one of the best running backs in the NFL combined with one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, you could have expected the Eagles run game to be really effective. But when you look at specifically the amount of explosive runs that he’s had, runs of 10 yards or more, even his track record in his career wouldn’t suggest that he’d be as good in that area as he’s been. I’ve got the numbers in front of me here, his career high for runs of 10 yards or more to date is 32. Halfway through the season, he has 23 which leads the NFL. So it kind of speaks to how many of his runs have been going for chunk yardage, first downs, and beyond.

When you really look at that, I definitely think that is an aspect that I think most people probably would have underestimated. I think he did have a little bit of a reputation as a home run hitter, but this is, again, beyond what we’ve seen in his career before. Obviously, his yards before contact with the Eagles offensive line have really been noticeably better than it was with the Giants, but he’s also been better after contact. He’s averaging a career-high in yards after contact per attempt. So basically, every time he touches the ball, he’s capable of getting four or five yards after contact with the first defender.

Honestly, he’s been the steadying force for the Eagles offense, especially when A.J. Brown was out earlier this season, you saw that he can kind of carry the offense single-handedly at times again, along with the offensive line. So, yeah, I mean, obviously I think most people knew he was a really good player, but I do think there’s a case to be made that he’s been even better than maybe people would have expected when he signed.

EJ: [Quinyon Mitchell] add him with Cooper DeJean, I’m looking at the rookie target numbers. Like a lot of these rookies get targeted. A lot more than Quinyon Mitchell has been targeted. It seems like teams have kind of learned they can’t test him necessarily, as much as you typically would a rookie cornerback. So you add him with Cooper DeJean. I mean, honestly, it’s hard to overlook the fact that the Eagles defense turned around so much when they put Cooper DeJean as the starting slot quarterback coming out of the bye week.

Teams like the test slot quarterbacks, they’ll put a lot of different types of receivers in the slot to exploit matchups, and Cooper DeJean has been up to the task with that. So, yeah, I think the fact that those two guys have both hit the ground running as rookies and it’s been transformative for Eagles secondary. It’s been surprising too, because usually, I would say that rookie cornerbacks typically struggle early in their careers. I mean [fellow rookies] Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry, they’ve both had shaky starts to their careers. And by comparison, Quinyon Mitchell has credibly been the Eagles No. cornerback for times this season.

Olivia: EJ, I don’t disagree with you at all but I’m going to throw out another name. I’ve been really impressed with the play of Zack Baun for the start of the season. I think that the Eagles came into this year, they came into training camp with some questions at inside linebacker. Honestly, I think we probably all thought that Devin White was one of the front runners for a starting role, and Baun potentially, was an edge rusher and that’s the position that he played primarily in his tenure with the New Orleans Saints.

But then coming out of training camp we saw Nakobe Dean and Zach Baun emerge as the starting inside linebacker duo, and while I have been surprised by both of them, I think we all knew that Nakobe Dean had the talent to be a starting inside linebacker in the league. Whether or not he had the consistency and the ability to be available, I think that was up for question, and he has proved so far that he has been able to do that, and he has been very impressive this season. Baun, we really just weren’t sure what we were going to get with him, and he has really, I think, been able to assert that he is capable of not only being a starting inside linebacker, but a really talented one at that.

Eagles reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith will preview the Eagles’ Week 10 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys on Gameday Central, which begins at 2:55 p.m. Sunday.