PHILADELPHIA — Bring up Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk or Eric Dickerson, and Saquon Barkley can get into a conversation for hours. The best running back in the NFL is truly an historian of the game.
He sees the consistency of greatness in Sanders, the dominance of Faulk in his prime, and what Derrick Henry does in his 30s. This is the conversation he wants to be in: one of the greatest running backs to step on a football field.
“I don’t mean it in an arrogant way. I want to be the best running back to ever play, or at least one of the best running backs to ever play,” Barkley said at the NovaCare Complex this week. “Don’t think there’s a way you can prove who’s the best. But that’s always been my motivation.
“I feel like God’s blessed me with a unique ability, and put me through a lot of adversity, and that’s still going to be my mindset. So the love of the game, wanting to win, and wanting to compete and be great is always going to push me, no matter if we win four Super Bowls.”
Barkley accomplished everything a running back could accomplish in his first year with the Eagles, putting together one of the greatest seasons ever for any player in NFL history. Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season, the ninth player in league history to rush for 2,000 yards. He had seven touchdown runs of 60-plus yards last season (including playoffs), an NFL record for a season and three more than the next-highest player. Three touchdown runs of 60-plus yards came in the postseason, a feat no other player has accomplished in his entire playoff career.
He finished with the most rushing yards in a season in NFL history with 2,504 (including playoffs), the first player ever to have 2,500 rushing yards in a season. Barkley also finished with 2,857 yards from scrimmage, the most ever in a season in league history (including playoffs). Barkley and Terrell Davis are the only players in NFL history to have 400-plus rushing yards and five-plus rushing touchdowns in a single postseason, and Barkley’s 499 rushing yards in the playoffs were the third-most for a player in league history.
It was a season for the ages, yet Barkley is far from done. There’s too much to accomplish to just call it a career, no matter what came out of his mouth on a podcast last week.
“I don’t think I’ll ever lose the passion for the game,” Barkley said. “The retiring thing, I think that caught a little fire on social media. I don’t plan on retiring any time soon. The question was asked of me, and I don’t have a set date, or how many years I want to play.
“I would love to play this game as long as God lets me, and my body lets me, so that’s really it.”
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How does a player improve upon one of the best seasons ever in NFL history, especially when said player plays one of the most brutal positions in sports? The history of 2,000-yard running backs in the following season isn’t favorable, but that’s just another motivation for Barkley.
“I should reach out to Derrick, to be honest,” Barkley said on talking to the 2,000-yard backs about taking care of their bodies. “I’m good friends with Derrick. He’s been doing it for a long time. He rushed for 2,000, and almost got it (again) last year. He’s playing at a high level at that age, and at the position that we’re playing. So Derrick is definitely someone I should reach out to.”
How every 2,000-yard rusher has fared the following season
Eric Dickerson | 2,105 (1984) | 1,234 (1985) — 14 games |
2,097 (2012) | 1,266 (2013) — 14 games | |
Jamal Lewis | 2,066 (2003) | 1,006 (2004) — 12 games |
Barry Sanders | 2,053 (1997) | 1,491 (1998) — 16 games |
| Derrick Henry | 2,027 (2020) | 937 (2021) — 8 games |
Terrell Davis | 2,008 (1998) | 211 (1999) — 4 games |
2,006 (2009) | 1,364 (2010) — 16 games | |
| Saquon Barkley | 2,005 (2024) | ??? |
O.J. Simpson | 2,003 (1973)* | 1,125 (1974) — 14 games* |
As Barkley chases greatness and plays his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame conversation, rushing for 2,000 yards again would make him one of one. No one has ever rushed for 2,000 yards in a season twice, a way Barkley could separate himself from his peers.
“I think that would be pretty cool,” Barkley said. “But I didn’t go into last year with the mindset of rushing for 2,000 yards. It’s kind of just happened. … But for me, I kind of just take care of the little things first, and everything else that I want to accomplish, all the things that you have to accomplish to become great, to create your legacy and become a Hall of Fame player, I just try to take care of that, and the rest will take care of itself.”
The odds are against Barkley having another historic season — he’s +1100 to rush for 2,000-plus yards, per DraftKings Sportsbook — but he doesn’t see it that way. Of the seven players who had 480-plus touches in a season (including playoffs), only Jamal Anderson didn’t rush for 1,000 yards in the next season. Davis had 531 touches in 1997 and then followed that up with 499 touches in 1998 — rushing for 2,008 yards while winning NFL MVP.
It can be done, and Barkley is just getting started on what he can accomplish.
“The beauty of it is I don’t know how many touches I had, or how many yards. But it doesn’t feel like it,” Barkley said. “I feel really good. I feel like I’m entering my prime, so just gotta have the mindset of listening to everyone, buying in to what they want me to do.
“And whatever I do, try to do it to the best of my ability.”
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Author: Jeff Kerr
June 11, 2025 | 1:40 pm
