Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley enters the final week of the season just 101 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season NFL rushing record that has stood for 40 years.
Now locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, should the Eagles let their star running back go for history, against the New York Giants of all teams? Or should head coach Nick Sirianni give his top starters a week off in preparation for the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs?
Insider Adam Schefter of ESPN, typically a man with informed opinions, dropped an adamant take on Barkley’s chances of playing during Monday morning’s episode of the Get Up show.
According the Schefter, Dickerson’s rushing record will survive another year:
I fully expect them not to go for the record. You could just hear the way they were answering the questions (in Sunday’s post-game pressers), they were playing it down. And you notice, as soon as he got over 2,000 yards, as soon as that last run got him to 2,003 and he became the ninth running back in NFL history to get that mark, they took him right out of the game? They didn’t leave him in to do more damage for the Eric Dickerson mark. They didn’t do that. They don’t have a bye the first week. They’re not trying to get a record, they’re trying to get a Super Bowl.
I would be floored if Saquon Barkley is on the field this weekend. Floored. He’s not going to be out there. — Adam Schefter
As Eagles fans would expect, Barkley gave a team-first response to those questions after Sunday’s win over the Dallas Cowboys. He said the decision was Sirianni’s alone, and he would be good with whatever the team thinks is best regarding playing time for the starters in Week 18.
It would be quite the scene to see Barkley break the record, against the team that drafted him, in front of a packed crowd at the Linc on Sunday. But Schefter’s right — an individual accomplishment should never stand in the way of the team’s goal of winning a championship.
Barkley entered 2024 having never carried the ball 300-plus times in a season. He’s at 345 carries entering Week 18. Keeping him healthy for the first first round of the playoffs feels like the play here.
You can also see the decision as a tip of the cap to Dickerson. The NFL legend set that record in 1984 in 16 games. Barkley would be attempting to break that mark in his 17th game, and a meaningless one for his team to boot.
Barkley has nothing left to prove in Week 18. It’s time to get ready for the games that matter.
