Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will not make history Sunday against the New York Giants in the regular-season finale, head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters Wednesday.
“We’re going to rest some guys,” Sirianni said before later adding that Barkley would “probably be someone to rest” when asked a follow-up question.
With Barkley’s regular season ending, he will finish his first season with the Eagles 101 yards behind Eric Dickerson for the NFL single-season record of 2,105 – a mark set in 1984.
Barkley became the ninth player to join the 2,000 yard club with a 167-yard day in a win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17.
The Eagles won the NFC East crown with this victory and without any chance of winning first place in the conference, there were questions whether Sirianni would decide to give Barkley rest before the playoffs or allow him to chase Dickerson’s record.
“A lot of things come into play,” Sirianni said of the decision to rest Barkley. “Obviously, it’s a very special record, held for a very long time by a great player. It’s a team record that everyone is involved in. So you weigh all these things, but at the end of the day, you just try to do what’s best for the team… We put ourselves in a position to be able to be in this situation. Our goals are to be successful and play well in the next game we play. , not only in New York but against whomever we faced after this. We think this (decision) plays a role in that.
“It wasn’t the easiest decision to make, but we have great people in this building and (I) had a lot of input from a lot of different people, including players.”
A similar situation occurred in 2021 with wide receiver DeVonta Smith. Sirianni and his team decided to play Smith as he broke DeSean Jackson’s. Eagles rookie receiving record.
Dickerson will be happy his record is safe
When asked by Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times before Week 17 if he thought Barkley could break the record, Dickerson replied.“I don’t think he’ll break it. Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not.”
Dickerson is proud to have held the record as long as he has and would be quick to point out that if Barkley had held the record on Sunday, he would have done so in 17 regular season games, not 16 like Dickerman plays in 1984.
“I’m not doing anything about it. But I’m not complaining about it,” Dickerson added. “He had 17 games left to do it? Hey, football is football. That’s how I look at it.”
