Of all of the off-season moves made last summer around the NFL, the one that has arguably been the most impactful was the Philadelphia Eagles acquiring running back Saquon Barkley. The former New York Giant already has more rushing yards through 11 games than he has had in any previous season in his career, and now has a legitimate shot at breaking a couple of single-season records.
Barkley On Pace To Break NFL Single-Season Rushing Record
Barkley has been a huge contributor to the Eagles’ offense in 2024, and a big reason why the team sits at 9-2 and near the top of the NFC standings entering the late-season stretch. He started off with a bang, putting up over 350 combined rushing yards in Philadelphia’s first three games, before tailing off a bit over the next couple of contests.
Saquon Barkley in his last 2 games
58 touches
500 total yards ‼️
4 TDs pic.twitter.com/Jwe3THrFmy— PFF (@PFF) November 25, 2024
But the lull in his production was short-lived. In the six games that the Eagles have played since October 20th, Barkley has failed to reach 100 yards rushing just once, and he was able to rack up more than 145 yards in four of those six. The stretch was capped off by his other-worldly performance in Sunday night’s game against the Rams, when he rushed for a career-high 255 yards, which included two touchdown runs of 70+ yards.
Now, with just shy of 1,400 ground yards through 11 games, Saquon Barkley has a realistic shot at the NFL record for rushing yards in a single season. That mark was set by Eric Dickerson in 1984, when the second-year running back for the Los Angeles Rams put up 2,105 yards in 16 games, which broke OJ Simpson’s record of 2,003 set in 1973.
The Added 17th Game Should Help The Cause
In order to reach the milestone, Barkley would have to simply maintain the average that he has so far in 2024. He would have to average just under 119 yards per game for the final six games of the season, which is below his current per-game mark of 126.5.
Of course, the added 17th game helps the cause for breaking the record. It will be tough to come even close to the per-game average that Simpson put up in his 1973 campaign, when he hit the 2,000 yard mark in an inexplicable 14 games. His average of 143.1 yards per game that NFL season hasn’t even come close to being touched, with the next-highest being Jim Brown’s 133.1 yards per in 1963.
Barkley will face a couple of tough tests in the coming weeks. The Eagles are slated to play against both the Ravens and Steelers over the next three weeks, who are ranked #2 and #4 in rushing yards allowed this season. But should he be able to maintain his average through Week 15, then breaking the single-season NFL record would become even more realistic.
