NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson Not Looking Forward to Seeing Saquon Barkley Break His Single-Season Rushing Record

The NFL-watching world has watched with amazement and anticipation as Eagles running back Saquon Barkley continues his seemingly unstoppable march to breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Everyone, that is, except Eric Dickerson.

Dickerson, who set the record for rushing yards in a single season with 2,105 while playing with the Los Angeles Rams in 1984, said in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times that he’s just fine with the record staying with him.

“Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not,” Dickerson said. “I don’t pull no punches on that. But I’m not whining about it.”

As it stands, Barkley would need 268 yards over the next two games to break the record. With Philadelphia’s final two games against the Cowboys at what is expected to be a rain-soaked Lincoln Financial Field and a final game against the Giants, who are objectively awful and playing for nothing, it’s entirely possible he could break it.

Dickerson doesn’t view that as a likely scenario, however.

“I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it,” Dickerson said.

The Rams Hall of Famer pointed out one difference between the era in which he set the record and the current reality of the NFL: The 17-game season.

“He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football,” Dickerson said. “That’s the way I look at it. If he’s fortunate to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it’s a great record to have.”

Of course, Barkley and his supporters could counter with the fact that Dickerson took the record from O.J. Simpson, who had set the mark when the league only played a 14-game season.

“[OJ] Simpson held the rushing record before Dickerson, and he set the mark of 2,003 yards during a 14-game season in 1973,” CBS Sports reports. “Simpson was the first player to cross the 2,000-yard mark, and since then, it’s happened just seven more times. In the 30 years since Dickerson set the record, Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 2,097 yards in 2012, is the only running back who has even come within 35 yards of topping Dickerson’s mark.

“The 27-year-old Barkley needs just 162 yards to reach 2,000, and if he does that, he’ll become the second-oldest player to hit 2,000 yards, trailing only Barry Sanders, who rushed for 2,053 yards as a 29-year-old in 1997.”

The Eagles face the Cowboys on Sunday at 1 P.M. EST.