Saquon Barkley chasing Eric Dickerson's record: Is single-season rushing mark tainted with 17-game schedule?
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley wanted to hit the 2,000-yard mark in 16 games. Reaching that milestone had a special meaning for a running back who studies the history of the game.
Barry Sanders accomplished that feat, and so did Terrell Davis and Adrian Peterson after him. The first two are Hall of Famers, and Peterson will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he's eligible for induction.
They're part of a special group, a club Barkley joined when he hit the 2,000-yard mark Sunday, becoming the ninth running back in the 105-year history of the NFL to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.
As incredible as Sanders' and Peterson's 2,000-yard seasons were, neither of them were within striking distance of catching Eric Dickerson's single-season mark of 2,105 yards. Sanders entered his final game in 1997 with 1,869 yards, a good 237 yards shy of passing Dickerson. Peterson entered with 1,898, 207 away from Dickerson, and almost caught him by rushing for 199 yards in the regular season finale — 8 yards shy of Dickerson's historic mark.
The NFL schedule has expanded throughout its history, adding games in the regular season five times since the end of World War II. The latest change was going from 16 games to 17 in 2021, opening up the possibility for several of the league's sacred records to be broken. One of them that wasn't in consideration was Dickerson's single-season rushing mark, as the league was trending toward the passing game and the running back position was becoming obsolete — and players were underpaid in the process.
Then came Barkley's historic 2024 season, one in which he became the ninth running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season and average 125.3 rushing yards per game — the highest in a season in the 17-game era and the most in a season since Derrick Henry had 126.7 in 2020 (the season Henry rushed for 2,000 yards).
Since Barkley is within striking distance of Dickerson's historic record, one that has stood for 40 years, there's a much bigger conversation than whether Barkley should play the Eagles' regular season finale (in which they can't improve their seed and have nothing to play for as a team).
If Barkley does play and gets the 101 yards he needs to pass Dickerson, is the record tainted because Barkley played 17 games?
"Say if I play next week and break ED's [Dickerson's] record, which, one, would be phenomenal. But I'm not into like, 'Oh, if you do it in 17 or 16 games,'" Barkley said on Sunday. "I'm a fan of the position. If that's the case, then O.J. [Simpson] got the record. O.J. did it in 14 games."
The conversation about whether it takes Barkley 17 games to pass Dickerson is pointless, considering Dickerson needed more games to pass Simpson's historic mark in 1973. Simpson was the first player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, accomplishing the feat in 14 games. He also set the standard for the greatest season for a running back ever, averaging 143.1 rushing yards per game in that 1973 campaign — a mark that has stood for 51 years.
"I know we don't really speak about that, but in reality, [O.J.] rushed for 2,000 in 14 games," Barkley said. "ED, it took him 15 to do it. So if anything, it's like, why are we even having the conversation?"
Dickerson hit the 2,000-yard mark and surpassed Simpson in his 15th game, just the seventh season after the NFL expanded the schedule from 14 to 16 games in 1978. He entered that 15th game with 1,792 yards, having two games to reach Simpson's historic mark. He rushed for 215 yards on that early December day, becoming the second running back to rush for 2,000 yards and ending the day with 2,007. Dickerson rushed for 98 yards in the regular season finale, ending up with 2,105 — a mark that hasn't been topped since.
Dickerson needed 15 games to pass Simpson's record. Simpson needed all 14 games to pass Brown's record of 1,863 (set in 1963), rushing for 200 yards in the regular season finale (Simpson entered the day just 60 yards shy of Brown).
The controversy only exists because Barkley is within striking distance of the single-season rushing mark, just like Simpson in 1973 and Dickerson in 1984. Both of them broke the record and etched themselves into NFL lore, just like Barkley is in a position to achieve if he does play this week.
"If you're trying to get ED's record, if that's the conversation, it should be, you've got to do it in 14," Barkley said. "The way football is right now, it's kind of hard to rush for 2,000 yards in 14 games. So, whether it's 16, whether it's 17, it's a feat that you can never take away from what I was able to do with the O-line."
If Barkley does pass Dickerson, there is no asterisk attached to his achievement. Just like there wasn't for Dickerson when he passed Simpson 40 years ago.
The NFL will be going to 18 games soon anyway. Someone will eventually surpass Dickerson or Barkley needing the full allotment of games to set the single-season rushing mark. This is just the evolution of the NFL.
Records are made to be broken.
