The NFL single-season rushing record has stood for 40 years, far longer than Saquon Barkley has been on this planet.
But now, with two games to play, the Philadelphia Eagles running back is 268 yards from eclipsing the mark of Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, who set the league record of 2,105 with the Rams in 1984.
Barkley, 27, who signed with the Eagles last offseason after spending the first part of his career with the rival New York Giants, is also 162 yards from becoming the ninth player to run for 2,000 yards in a season.
The other seven are 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 (2027 with Tennessee in 2020), Terrell Davis (2,008 with Denver in 1998), Chris Johnson (2,006 with Tennessee in 2009) and O.J. Simpson (2,003 with Buffalo in 1973).
The Eagles finish the regular season with home games against the Dallas Cowboys and the Giants.
Dickerson spoke to The Times this week about Barkley, running backs in general, the Rams and the thought of his longstanding record going away:
How do you feel about the possibility of Barkley breaking your single-season rushing record?
I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it. Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull no 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.
So the 17 games part doesn’t bother you, even though you set it with 16 games?
O.J. Simpson was my favorite player. 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.
Do you look at it from the perspective that the record is eventually going to fall?
I’ve always said that the one that’s going to last the longest is me setting the rookie record with 1,808. Because you only get one shot at that. You’re only a rookie once.
What do you think of Barkley as a back?
I like him. But I tend to like big backs. He’s not a big back like I was. He’s elusive, he’s tough, he runs hard, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. I think he’s a great player.
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.
So it’s location, location, location?
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.
And that’s why you go to those lengths to thank your blockers?
I saw what [San Francisco quarterback] Brock Purdy did with his offensive line, buying them those Tundras. I got a text from Jackie [Slater, Hall of Fame Rams tackle], “Hey, man, where’s my Tundra?” I told him I was making $175,000 at the time. I could afford about two Tundras and be broke.
Will you be tuned in to watch Barkley?
I don’t sit down and watch games, except the Rams, and I work for the team. But I’ll have no choice but to keep up with it because I get so many text messages. People blowing up my phone like, “Man, it’s not fair. He gets 17 games,” or, “We’re going to put a hex on him.”
Any thoughts on Rams running back Kyren Williams?
I like him as a back. He’s able to carry the ball 29, 28, 27 times. That takes a toll on you. I was able to do it, but there’s very few backs that are able to do that. He’s not a real big guy, so that says a lot about him as a player, and what Sean McVay thinks of him. I look at McVay and think he’s done a fantastic job of coaching this team.
Do you think McVay should be in the Coach of the Year conversation?
Of course he does. He probably won’t get it because they’re going to give it to a coach who’s 15-2 or 14-3. But McVay has a young team, a team that at one point was decimated by injuries. They lost [four of five] and weren’t looking good. And right now they’re in position to win the NFC West. What else does it take [to win Coach of the Year]?
Back to Barkley, are you surprised the Giants let him go?
Let me tell you something. When you look at certain people who run these teams, some of these guys have as much sense as me being the president of the United States. That’s about how much they should be running a football team.
In my contract, when the Rams traded me to the Colts, did you know I couldn’t come back to the NFC for five years? They put that clause in there.
The Eagles finish the regular season against the Giants. If the record is up for grabs…
A real team would be like, “Oh no, you ain’t gonna get that record on us.” 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.
