Eric Dickerson Says ‘Absolutely Not’ When Asked if He Wants Saquon Barkley To Break Rushing Record

Eric Dickerson owns the NFL single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards in 1984 for the Los Angeles Rams. He hopes and expects to still have his record in a couple weeks.

With two games left in the 2024 season, Saquon Barkley has rushed for 1,838 yards in his first campaign with the Eagles. In a conversation with Sam Farmer of The Los Angeles Times, Dickerson was frank when discussing Barkley's pursuit of his 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." 

To his credit, Dickerson didn't try to discredit Barkley for having 17 regular-season games, as opposed to the 16 he had in 1984. Instead, he pointed out that he broke the record of O.J. Simpson, who rushed for 2,003 yards in 1973, when there were only 14 regular-season games. 

Barkley needs to average just 81 yards a game over the final two contests to become the ninth member of the 2,000-yard rushing club, joining Dickerson, Simpson, Adrian Peterson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Derrick Henry, Terrell Davis and Chris Johnson. 

However, he'll need to average 134 yards per game over the final two weeks to break Dickerson's record, which will certainly be a tougher task. Then again, if Jalen Hurts is indeed out for Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys, Barkley may very well go over 134 yards on Sunday, setting himself up to have a real shot at the record in Week 18. And what better story could there be than for Barkley to break the rushing record against the New York Giants?