The NFL’s single-season rushing record has stood for 40 years, much longer than Saquon Barkley has been on this planet.
But now, with two games left, the Philadelphia Eagles running back is 268 yards away 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 early part of his career with the rival New York Giants, is also 162 yards away from becoming the ninth player to rush 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 (2,027 with Tennessee in 2020), Terrell Davis (2,008 with Denver in 1998), Chris Johnson (2006 with Tennessee in 2009) and OJ Simpson (2003 with Buffalo in 1973).
The Eagles finish the regular season with home games against the Dallas Cowboys and the Giants.
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Dickerson spoke to The Times this week about Barkley, running backs in general, the rams and the idea of your old history disappearing:
What do you think of Barkley breaking your single-season rushing record?
I don’t think I’ll break it. But if you break it, you break it. Do I want him to break it? At all. I don’t mince words about it. But I’m not complaining about that. Did he have 17 games to achieve it? Hey, football is football. That’s how I see it. If you’re lucky enough to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it’s a great record.
So the 17 games part doesn’t bother you, even though you set it to 16 games?
OJ Simpson was my favorite player. He surpassed 2,000 yards in 14 games. It took me 15 games to get to 2000. I had an extra game to play. Reaching 2000 is an achievement in itself. I was close to that three other times.
Do you look at it from the perspective that the record will eventually fall?
I have always said that the one that will last the longest is me setting the rookie record with 1,808. Because you only have one chance for that. You’re only a rookie once.
What do you think of Barkley as a back?
I like it. But I tend to like big backs. He’s not a big butt like I was. He’s elusive, tough, runs hard and can catch the ball out of the backfield. I think he is a great player.
I always felt like he would never reach his potential when he was in New York. You could take Emmitt Smith and put him in Cleveland, and he would never have been the Emmitt Smith we know now.
So it’s location, location, location?
Yes. Even myself. If they had put me in Cincinnati on a bad team, I would never have been that guy. Because of these bad unblocked football teams, I don’t care how good they are. If you don’t have the guys in front of you, you can’t do it.
And that’s why you go to such 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, Rams Hall of Fame 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.
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Will you be tuning in to see Barkley?
I don’t sit and watch games, except for the Rams, and I work for the team. But I’ll have no choice but to keep up because I get a lot of text messages. People blow up my phone and say, “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 it as a backup. He is capable of carrying the ball 29, 28, 27 times. That takes its toll on you. I was able to do it, but there are very few backs who can do it. He’s not a very big guy, so that says a lot about him as a player and what Sean McVay thinks of him. I look at McVay and I think he’s done a fantastic job coaching this team.
Do you think McVay should be in the Coach of the Year conversation?
Of course. 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 out of five) and didn’t look good. And now they are in position to win the NFC West. What more does it take (to win Coach of the Year)?
Getting 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 them make as much sense as me being the president of the United States. That’s how much they should spend 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 there.
The Eagles finish the regular season against the Giants. If the record is at stake…
A real team would say, “Oh no, you’re not going to get us that record.” But how ironic would it be for him to break the record with them, the team that let him go. A real slap in the face.
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.