Bowen: Barner gaining ground in Eagles' backfield

WHEN KENJON Barner got to the NFL as a sixth-round draft choice of Carolina in 2013, he found the attributes that made him a star at Oregon weren't going to earn him a long pro career.

Speed and an ability to get outside are nice, but they aren't going to earn a 5-9 runner a big role, especially if he knows nothing about pass protection, can't get the tough yards inside, and has suspect hands.

Three years later, Barner is thicker with muscle, particularly in his lower body. (Though the Eagles still list him at 195, his draft weight, and Barner won't divulge what he weighs now. It's more than 195.)

In last week's game at Pittsburgh, Barner scored the only Eagles touchdown of the preseason so far that resulted from an extended drive, instead of from a turnover. His 5-yard rip up the middle featured an excellent cut, as TV analyst Mike Mayock noted. Barner gained 32 yards on five carries during the 87-yard, 15-play drive.

The guy whose NFL.com draft profile said that he "too often seeks to bounce the ball to the outside and will miss running lanes as a result" did not do that.

"I cut to my left off of the safety. I just kind of saw how he was coming down, and the leverage he had on me, he wanted to keep me outside, so I was able just to angle out a little bit to give him the illusion I was trying to get out, and once he took that step I needed him to take, I was able to cut off of him," Barner said.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of work Barner gets Saturday night in Indianapolis. He is the Eagles' leading preseason rusher, with 13 carries for 76 yards, but in the third preseason game, the coaches want to see their starters, such as running back Ryan Mathews, who has just seven preseason carries, for 33 yards. They might want to give some carries to Darren Sproles, who doesn't have any yet, having been active only in the Pittsburgh game, and then only as a receiver. But if Barner gets work before cleanup time, we'll know he probably has a role in whatever running back rotation the team ultimately configures.

"I think Kenjon has had really good OTAs in the offseason and training camp," offensive coordinator Frank Reich said this week. "And obviously he's shined in special teams, as well (returning seven punts for 25 yards and two kickoffs for 61 yards). Kenjon, I think he's a good runner. I think he has an elusiveness to him that obviously shows as a punt returner. So when you get him in the backfield out in space, whether it's catching a pass out of the back field, or get(ting) him on the edge running the football, (he's effective). But he's had a nice couple of inside runs as well. That's important."

For a back in the West Coastish system Doug Pederson runs, pass catching and pass protection are paramount. Barner has had to work hard in those areas as a pro, particularly in picking up the blitz. Pederson seems to be a lot like his mentor, Andy Reid, who flat-out wouldn't put a back on the field who couldn't pass block.

"If you go back to my first game in the league, to be honest, that was something I couldn't do," Barner said. "Didn't have to do it too often (at Oregon) because we were such a tempo team, teams didn't blitz us, because they were afraid of the tempo. If I think back to my senior year in college, I had to stay in and protect maybe three times in the entire season."

Reich has noticed Barner's work there.

"The other element that he's continued to impress is in the protection element. He knows what he's doing in protection. I can't emphasize that enough," Reich said. "I've said it before over the last couple weeks, but it's just so important in any offense that the backs fully understand all the protection calls, what's going on, because it all starts in the passing game with protecting the passer, and the backs are a big part of that."

Barner's running backs coach, Duce Staley, is one of the best-ever Eagles backs at blitz pickup; Staley got more practice at it than he would have preferred, as Reid tilted heavily toward the passing game and away from letting Staley pound the line.

"A lot of that credit goes to Duce," said Barner, who joined the Eagles two years ago, was waived injured, returned later that season to the practice squad, and last year appeared in 11 games, carrying 28 times for 124 yards. "It's just technique. Obviously, you have to be willing to go in there and do it, but there's a lot of technique to it. Being a smaller guy, you have to be lower; if you're higher than a bigger guy, you're absolutely going to lose, but being lower, shooting your hands first - a lot of little things that I didn't necessarily know, that he has taught me. Some of these linebackers are 250, 260 pounds. You've gotta come in there with something."

Barner is still a work in progress as a route runner and pass receiver, but the Eagles do have Sproles, one of the best in the league at that. And Mathews has become reliable, if not exciting, in that area as well.

It seems likely the Birds will keep four running backs - Mathews, Sproles, Barner and fifth-round rookie Wendell Smallwood, with Oregon rookie Byron Marshall maybe ending up on the practice squad.

@LesBowen

Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog