Saquon Barkley had an emotional conversation with his dad about his chance at breaking the NFL single-season rushing record.
The Philadelphia Eagles running back’s pursuit of Eric Dickerson’s record is now over, as Barkley will not play in the Eagles’ final regular-season game on Sunday. This decision prevents him from having a shot at breaking the record.
Barkley shared that his dad, Alibay, wanted him to play. “Selfishly for him, you’ve got to think about it … our last name would have been attached to that,” Barkley said. “But at the end of the day, the most important thing is winning football games.
He’s the one that raised me to kind of be all about the team, too. He can have his little selfish moment, but he’ll get over it.”
Barkley said he has come to terms with it too, understanding the bigger picture. His offensive line, who had hoped to help him break the record, and fans who wanted to witness history at the Linc against the New York Giants will also be disappointed.
Barkley finishes the season with 2,005 rushing yards, just 101 yards shy of Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards, which was set in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Eagles (13-3) have already clinched the NFC East title and the No. 2 seed, leaving little at stake in the game against the Giants. As a result, coach Nick Sirianni decided, after talking to Barkley, players, coaches, and general manager Howie Roseman, to rest Barkley and avoid any potential injury to one of the team’s key players.
Barkley is only the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season.
“May never get another opportunity like that again,” Barkley said. “So, I’m down. But at the end of the day, I don’t care for putting the team at risk. He’s the head coach for a reason. He makes those decisions.”
Barkley isn’t alone in being rested. Many starters, including quarterback Jalen Hurts (who sat out Sunday’s win over Dallas due to a concussion), will also be rested to ensure they are healthy for the upcoming NFC wild-card playoff game.
“I’m just happy I didn’t have to make that decision,” Barkley said. “Nick made it pretty easy on me and I’m truly at peace with it.”
The Eagles had a bye week in Week 5 and, after starting 2-2, won 10 straight games to take control of the division. However, after 12 consecutive games, including Barkley’s NFL-high 345 carries, Sirianni decided to give both Barkley and other starters some rest before the playoffs.
Inside the locker room, some players expressed disappointment that Barkley won’t get a chance at the record. “Everybody would like to have the record,” offensive tackle Lane Johnson said. “We’d also like to have the player for a playoff game, and win a playoff game with him.”
Barkley had hoped for the record, but after a night of thinking it over, he accepted that resting was the right decision. “On Sunday, I probably didn’t care too much for it,” Barkley said. “When I slept on it, it was like, it was an opportunity to implement my name in football history.”
While Barkley won’t break Dickerson’s record, he did set the Eagles’ record for most rushing yards in a season and set a franchise record for total scrimmage yards (2,283). He passed LeSean McCoy, Brian Westbrook, and Wilbert Montgomery for the best season by a running back in Eagles history. McCoy held the previous record with 2,146 yards in 2013.
Throughout the season, Barkley delivered outstanding performances, including 147 yards against New Orleans, 176 yards against the Giants, and a career-high 255 yards against the Los Angeles Rams in November.
“If I had to go out there and get the record, I felt really good enough to do it, too,” Barkley said. “I made a joke to one of my boys the other night, my body don’t feel like I ran for 2,000 yards. That’s a good thing.”
Hurts is still in concussion protocol and could not practice or play until cleared. Kenny Pickett started last week and ran and threw for a touchdown before leaving with an injury. Tanner McKee, the third-string quarterback, threw two touchdown passes to finish off a victory over Dallas.
The Eagles only held a walkthrough on Wednesday, and Pickett was listed as missing practice, meaning McKee is likely to start Sunday.
While Barkley may wonder “what if,” the decision also takes away any debate about whether he could have set the record in a 17th game, which was not available to Dickerson in 1984. Dickerson broke O.J. Simpson’s 1973 record of 2,003 yards rushing in 12 games, while Simpson’s record was set in a 14-game season before the NFL expanded to 16 games in 1978.
“I didn’t sign here to break Eric Dickerson’s record,” Barkley said. “I came here to win a Super Bowl.”
