How many yards does Saquon Barkley need to set a new NFL rushing record?
Barkley needs to pick up the pace if he wants to overtake Eric Dickerson and set a new NFL single-season rushing record.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will still be chasing history Sunday when the Birds take on the Washington Commanders.
Barkley, who topped LeSean McCoy’s Eagles single-season rushing record earlier this month, could still overtake Eric Dickerson’s long-standing NFL rushing record, set back in 1984. But he’ll need to pick up the pace after picking up just 65 yards rushing against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, something Dickerson isn’t exactly rooting for.
“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.”
The good news is the Commanders enter Sunday’s game with a defense ranked No. 25 against the run. Barkley racked up 146 yards rushing and another 52 yards receiving in the Eagles’ win against the Commanders last month.
Here’s a look at Barkley’s stats and what he needs to do to top Dickerson’s rushing record with three weeks left in the season.
How many rushing yards does Barkley have this season?
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Commanders, Barkley has 1,688 yards rushing this season, which leads the NFL. He is averaging 120.6 rushing yards per game, a pace that would put him at around 2,050 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. He’s also tied his career-best 11 rushing touchdowns, which he set during his rookie year in 2018.
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 three games left on the 17-game schedule, Barkley is 417 yards away from the record. He needs to average 139 yards per game through the final three weeks of the season in order to overtake Dickerson.
Luckily for him, the Birds’ remaining games are against teams with weak rushing defenses. The Commanders are allowing about 132 yards per game, while the Dallas Cowboys are giving up about 136 yards per game on the ground.
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. But 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 has a chance to set a new NFL record for scrimmage yards in a season. But it seems like more of a long shot.
Barkley enters Week 16 with 1,964 scrimmage yards (rushing and passing). With three more regular-season games to play, if he continues at this same pace (about 140 yards per game), he’ll finish with 2,385 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 three games, and it’s been more than a month since he’s topped 50 receiving yards in a single game.