Eric Dickerson on Saquon Barkley chasing his single-season rushing record: ‘I don’t think he’ll break it’

Saquon Barkley is in the midst of an MVP-caliber season. Since signing a three-year contract with the Eagles, Barkley has continued to impress. He eclipsed LeSean McCoy’s franchise single-season record (1,607) set in 2013 and is chasing Eric Dickerson’s league mark.

Dickerson’s record has stood for 40 years. He rushed for 2,105 yards with the Los Angeles Rams in 1984 — 13 years before Barkley was born. Barkley currently has 1,838 yards, which leaves him 268 away from history.

But the Hall of Famer doubts Barkley’s chances.

“I don’t think he’ll break it,” Dickerson told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “But if he breaks it, he breaks it. Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull [any] punches on that. But I’m not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football. That’s the way I look at it. If he’s fortunate to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it’s a great record to have.”

Now that NFL teams play 17 games per season, Barkley would have an extra contest to pass Dickerson, who set his record in 16 games. But he pointed out that he needed two extra games to pass O.J. Simpson’s record of 2,003 yards set in 1973.

“O.J. Simpson was my favorite player,” Dickerson told The Los Angeles Times. “He went over 2,000 yards in 14 games. It took me 15 games to get to 2,000. I had one extra game to play. Getting to 2,000 is an accomplishment in itself. I got close to that three other times.”

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Only eight running backs have ever rushed for 2,000 yards: Adrian Peterson (2,097 with Minnesota in 2012), Jamal Lewis (2,066 with Baltimore in 2003), Barry Sanders (2,053 with Detroit in 1997), Derrick Henry (2,027 with Tennessee in 2020), Terrell Davis (2,008 with Denver in 1998), Chris Johnson (2,006 with Tennessee in 2009), and, of course, Dickerson and Simpson.

Barkley needs to average 134 yards in his last two games — assuming he plays both games — to eclipse Dickerson. If the Eagles clinch the NFC East on Sunday with a win over the Dallas Cowboys, they wouldn’t be playing for much in Week 18 against his former team, the New York Giants, who Dickerson believes were holding Barkley back from his true potential.

“I think he’s a great player,” Dickerson said. “I always felt like he’d never reach his potential when he was in New York. You could take Emmitt Smith and put him in Cleveland, and he’d have never been the Emmitt Smith we know now.”

When asked if the location of a running back matters, Dickerson responded “Yes. Even myself. If you’d have put me in Cincinnati on a bad team, I’d have never been that guy. Because these bad football teams with no blocking, I don’t care how great you are. If you don’t have the guys in front of you, you can’t do it.”

Although Dickerson has admitted that he doesn’t want Barkley to break his record, he does think it would be “ironic” for the running back to break it in Week 18 against his former team, the Giants.

“A real team would be like, ‘Oh no, you ain’t going to get that record on us,’” Dickerson said. “But how ironic would it be for him to break the record on them, the team that let him go. A true slap in the face.”

The Eagles play in Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.