Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will end the 2024 season with 2,005 rushing yards and he said on Wednesday that he’s comfortable with the decision that head coach Nick Sirianni made to keep him out of Week 18’s game against the Giants.
Barkley said that he spoke to Sirianni and told the coach that “I’m down” to play while adding that he’d do everything he could to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105 rushing yards. Barkley called it an “opportunity to put my name in football history” and acknowledged that it might not present itself again in the future.
Barkley added that he also said he didn’t want to put anything about the team’s bigger aspirations at risk and that he is “OK” with being held out of the game.
“My family probably wanted it a little bit more than me,” Barkley said, via Eliot Shorr-Parks of WIP. “The most important thing is winning football games and winning playoffs. I’ve got a bigger goal in mind.”
Barkley’s 2,005 yards are the eighth-most in a single season and he’ll be hoping that’s a consolation prize for bigger team success in the coming weeks.
