How many yards does Saquon Barkley need to set a new NFL rushing record?
Despite the Eagles' loss, Barkley remains on pace to set a new NFL single-season rushing record.
Saquon Barkley picked up the pace Sunday in the Eagles’ loss against the Washington Commanders, as he continues to close in on the NFL single-season rushing record.
Barkley, who topped LeSean McCoy’s Eagles single-season rushing record earlier this month, rushed for 150 yards against the Commanders during Sunday’s loss and could still overtake Eric Dickerson’s long-standing NFL rushing record, set back in 1984.
“I’ll tell you the truth. No, I don’t want my record broken. Of course I don’t,” Dickerson said in an interview on 94.1 WIP back on Dec. 6. “If he breaks it, he breaks it, and I’m not gonna lose sleep over it.”
Here’s a look at Barkley’s stats and what he needs to do to top Dickerson’s rushing record with two games left in the season.
How many rushing yards does Barkley have this season?
Following Sunday’s loss against the Commanders, Barkley has 1,838 yards rushing this season, which leads the NFL. He’s averaging 122.5 rushing yards per game, a pace that would put him around 2,083 rushing yards for the season.
Barkley has already topped his career high of 1,312, which he posted in 2022 with the New York Giants.
Who holds the record for most rushing yards in a single season?
The record belongs to Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, who rushed 2,105 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984 during his second season in the NFL. Dickerson rushed for more than 100 yards in 12 of his 16 games that season, including two games where he topped 200 yards.
Over the course of his 11-year career, Dickerson rushed for 13,259 yards, the ninth-most in NFL history. Former Cowboys great Emmitt Smith holds the all-time career NFL rushing record with 18,355 yards.
So how many rushing yards does Barkley need to break Dickerson’s record?
With two games left on the 17-game schedule, Barkley is 267 yards away from the record. He needs to average 134 yards per game through the final two weeks of the season in order to overtake Dickerson.
Luckily for him, the Birds’ remaining games are against teams with weak rushing defenses. The Dallas Cowboys are giving up about 136 yards per game on the ground, while the New York Giants, who the Eagles face in Week 18, have the second-worst rushing defense in the league, allowing opponents to rush for over 143 yards per game.
It remains to be seen if the Eagles would even turn to Barkley if they have no shot at landing the NFC’s No. 1 seed and end up treating the Giants’ game as a bye.
Barkley is also close to the NFL’s all-purpose yard record
In addition to the NFL’s single-season rushing record, Barkley had a chance to set a new NFL record for scrimmage yards in a season. But that seem nearly impossible following Sunday’s game, where he didn’t have a single reception.
Barkley has 2,114 scrimmage yards (rushing and passing). With two more regular-season games to play, if he continues at this same pace (about 141 yards per game), he’ll finish with 2,396 yards, below Chris Johnson’s record of 2,509 yards in 2009 with the Tennessee Titans.
Things aren’t trending in Barkley’s direction on this week. He’s had a total of just four receptions for 19 yards over the past four games, and it’s been more than a month since he’s topped 50 receiving yards in a single game.