Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will not go for history on Sunday against the New York Giants in the regular-season finale, head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters on Wednesday.
“We’re gonna rest some guys,” said Sirianni before later adding Barkley will “probably be somebody who rests” when asked a follow up question.
With Barkley’s regular season finish, he will end his first season with the Eagles 101 yards behind Eric Dickerson for the NFL single-season rushing record of 2,105 — a mark that was set in 1984.
Barkley became the ninth player to join the 2,000-yard club with a 167-yard day during a win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17.
The Eagles wrapped up the NFC East crown with that win and without a shot at claiming the top seed in the conference, there were questions about whether Sirianni would decide to give Barkley a rest ahead of the playoffs or allow him to pursue Dickerson’s record.
“A lot plays into it,” Sirianni said of the decision to rest Barkley. “Obviously, it’s a very special record that’s been standing for a very long time by a great player. It’s a team record that everybody’s involved in. So, you weigh all those things, but at the end of the day you just try to do what’s best for the team … We’ve put ourselves in a position to be able to be in this situation. Our goals are to have success and to play good the next game we play, not only in New York but whoever we play after that. We think that this [decision] plays into that.
“It wasn’t the easiest decision to go through, but we have great people in this building and [I] had a lot of input from a lot of different people, players included.”
A similar situation happened in 2021 with wide receiver DeVonta Smith. Sirianni and his staff decided to play Smith as he went on to break DeSean Jackson’s Eagles rookie receiving record.
Dickerson will be pleased his record is safe
When asked by the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer 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 takes pride in holding the record for as long as he has and would be quick to point out that if Barkley had owned the record come Sunday, he’d have done it in 17 regular-season games, not 16 like Dickerman play in in 1984.
“I don’t pull no punches on that. But I’m not whining about it,” Dickerson added. “He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football. That’s the way I look at it.”