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When the Philadelphia Eagles signed Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37 million deal this past March, there was no way that anyone within the organization could've expected the former All-Pro running back to have this big of an impact. Sure, you'd hope that Barkley would thrive in Philadelphia's run heavy offense, but to expect that heading into the final week of the season he'd be on the verge of NFL history… well that's a bit ambitious.
However, this is exactly where Barkley finds himself with just one game left in the regular season. With a solid performance against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, Barkley reached the 2,000 yard mark, which is a club that only eight other running backs — Eric Dickerson, Adrian Peterson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Derrick Henry, Terrell Davis, Chris Johnson and OJ Simpson — in NFL history belong to.
After that carry, which allowed Barkley to cross the 2,000 yard threshold, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni decided to sit Barkley for the rest of the afternoon in a game that was already decided. The Eagles move to 13-3, they've clinched the NFC East, and still have a sliver of hope for ending up the top seed in the NFC Playoff picture.
With that said, the Eagles may have nothing to play for in Week 18, but Saquon Barkley has everything on the line. At the moment, he is 101 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's long-standing record for rushing yards in a season. To make things even sweeter, he has a chance to break that record in Week 18 against his former team, the New York Giants. And one would assume that if he isn't already, Barkley will receive serious MVP consideration for breaking a record that has stood since 1984.
This is the long way of saying, don't expect Saquon Barkley to be sitting out next Sunday.
Saquon Barkley expresses gratitude for teammates, opportunity at history
When Saquon Barkley was born, there had only been two instances where a running back had reached the 2,000 yard mark. In the 27 years since then, six others had joined that illustrious group. And now Barkley, who the New York Giants let walk just nine months ago, is the latest player to join that group. And it's not lost on him how impressive this is.
“I’m not going to lie, just being a fan of the game and the running back position, it definitely means a lot,” Barkley said during his postgame press conference, per Brooks Kubena of The Athletic. He then took the opportunity to praise his offensive line, who have paved the way for the superstar running back all season long.
“But you can’t do it without the greatness of others,” Barkley added.
Barkley and the Eagles offensive line will only need to wait one week before they get the opportunity to put an exclamation mark on what is arguably the greatest rushing season in NFL history.
