Saquon Barkley could break the rushing record against the Giants after reaching 2,000 yards

PHILADELPHIA – Normally, Saquon Barkley would have tossed his game-used cleats to the kid who asked about the pair as the Philadelphia Eagles’ star running back ran off the field back to the locker room.

Sorry, boy. Not today.

Barkley kept his broken cleats for good reason – he became the ninth running back in NFL history to reach 2,000 yards rushing in a season, reaching the milestone with a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter of the season Sunday’s 41-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

That rush gave Barkley 2,005 yards with one game to go, putting him exactly 100 yards short of Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105, which he set for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. Barkley left the game after the run, which took him over 2,000 yards and finished with 167 yards on 31 carries.

“We definitely knew what the number was to get at least 2,000,” Barkley said. “We didn’t leave this field without having at least achieved that. Those are not the words from me, those are the words of the guys at the top.”

Whether Dickerson likes it or not — and the Hall of Famer made it clear last week that he doesn’t — Barkley will face the New York Giants next weekend for the record.

Well, maybe.

The Eagles have secured the NFC East and at least the No. 2 seed in the conference, making this game largely meaningless. Coach Nick Sirianni could decide to give Barkley a break to protect him from injury before the playoffs.

“Whatever his decision is, I’m all for it,” Barkley said. “If his attitude is, ‘Let’s go out and try it, then let’s go out and try it.’ If his attitude is, ‘Let’s rest and get ready for this run,’ then I’m all for it too.”

Sirianni simply said, “We’ll see.”

Barkley had his hat tipped back and laughed when asked if he wanted to break the record in a delicious twist against his old team.

“I’m not overly trying to get it,” Barkley said. “I’m not afraid of it. I would like to. But at the end of the day we have bigger things to focus on.”

Thanks to a 17th game of the season, which Dickerson and the NFL didn’t have in 1984, Barkley has a chance at the record.

Derrick Henry was the last running back to rush for more than 2,000 yards. He had 2,027 for the Tennessee Titans in 2020. Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson ran for 2,097 yards in 2012, the second-most in an NFL season.

Barkley, who left the Giants to sign a three-year deal with the Eagles for $26 million guaranteed, also set the NFL mark on Sunday for most yards rushing in a player’s first season with a new team.

In his first career game against the Giants, he ran for 176 yards and a touchdown.

“I didn’t come here or sign here just to run 2,000 (yards) and break a record,” Barkley said. “I’m here to do something special.”

Barkley was drafted No. 2 overall by Penn State in 2018. He was an immediate success with New York, rushing for 1,307 yards in his rookie season. Barkley ran for 5,211 yards and 35 touchdowns and had 288 receptions for 2,100 yards and 12 TDs in six years with the Giants.

After the Giants decided not to place a franchise tag on him, he became a free agent.

“I was in the dark,” Barkley said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen, you don’t know where you’re going to be. Everything is kind of up in the air.”

His mission is clear – win a Super Bowl and perhaps defeat Dickerson.

With his trademark glasses and Jheri curl, Dickerson posted seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in the 1980s, and the Hall of Famer is widely considered one of the best running backs of all time.

Dickerson finished ninth in NFL history with 13,259 receiving yards. Emmitt Smith holds the career record with 18,355 yards.

“I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it,” Dickerson told the Los Angeles Times. “Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t make any compromises. But I’m not complaining about it. He had 17 games to do this? Hey, football is football.”

In 1984, Dickerson surpassed 100 yards rushing twelve times, breaking OJ Simpson’s 1973 record of 2,003 yards rushing in a season.

Simpson set his record in 14 games for the Buffalo Bills before the NFL expanded to 16 in 1978. In 2021, the NFL increased to 17 games.

“The way football is right now, it’s pretty hard to get 2,000 yards in 14 games,” Barkley said. “So whether it’s 16, whether it’s 17, it’s an accomplishment that you can never take away from what I did with the O-line. And only eight other players did it, so it’s a special moment.”