Saquon Barkley had a ho-hum line by his 2024 standards in Week 17, taking 31 carries for 167 yards (and no TDs, of course). But, there was nothing h0-hum about the day overall. It allowed Barkley to top 2,000 yards on the season (2,005, to be exact). Barkley would have had a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old single-season record in Week 18, but the Eagles have decided to sit the RB as the team has nothing to play for. Former Eagles star RB LeSean McCoy says that’s a “mistake”.
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McCoy was RB1 in the City of Brotherly Love from 2009 to 2014. Barkley actually broke his Eagles single-season rushing record (1,607) a few weeks ago. So, he knows a thing or two about Barkley’s situation.
“Shady” is heading to Philly to shoot some promotional playoff material for the team, and he says he’s gonna be there with an “attitude” off the back of the Eagles’ decision on Barkley.
“I’m going there with attitude… Because how many guys get 2,000 yards twice? Tell me! It’s already hard enough to do it already. The thing is, right now with Saquon Barkley, like, okay, you get 2,100 yards you break the record for Eric Dickerson. In 30, 40 years from now, they’re gonna be talking about that. Because that’s how long Eric Dickerson’s record was, it was like 40 years. It’s hard to get a chance.”
And this is all before considering Barkley could’ve broken the record with just 101 yards against the team that gave up on him: the New York Giants. And they just so happen to boast the 2nd-worst rush defense in the league as well. One half of football could’ve been enough for Barkley to make history.
McCoy also opined on the fact that most people giving opinions on this—or even making the decision in the Eagles front office—never played, so they don’t understand what a monumental opportunity this is for Barkley. While the official statement from the team is that Barkley was okay with the decision, Shady could tell all wasn’t right when he was speaking to the media.
“It’s the Giants we’re talking about! And we talk about being selfish, I don’t think he’s selfish for wanting to do something that’s never been done before. The last part is this—because I’m done with it, because I’ve been upset for the last couple days about it. Because if it was me, it would’ve went way different—when he talked in that interview, you could see how much it hurt him.”
The former two-time 1st-Team All-Pro also talked about how much the team will regret the decision if they don’t win a Super Bowl. The reasoning behind a move like this is to maintain health throughout a (hopefully) long playoff run. So if they sit Barkley, then don’t win the Super Bowl either, what was the point of holding him back?
It’s just another example of how “championship” or “ring” culture is sucking the life blood, fun, and entertainment out of sports, especially in the NFL and NBA. Seemingly nothing matters anymore unless there’s a championship attached.
Is breaking a 40-year-old, seemingly impossible-to-reach record not worth playing for? And to do so against a team whose media said he was “dead” to them? Would the fans not love to see that? Would Barkley’s teammates and coaches not love to help him get there? And stick it to a hated division rival in the process?
The biggest reason for this decision, it seems, is not the worry that Barkley would get injured. But rather, the fear of the backlash Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman, and the rest of the Eagles front office would receive if he did suffer an injury.
As Shady McCoy pointed out: Saquon Barkley is almost definitely never going to get another opportunity like this. He is just the 9th player in the NFL’s 100+ year history to achieve that feat, and no one has ever done it twice. To get to 2,000, a running back needs a perfect storm.
They need to stay healthy. Their offensive line needs to stay healthy (Barkley had three Pro Bowlers plowing the way for him). And they need an offensive coordinator that will feed them like Barkley’s been fed by Sirianni and Kellen Moore. The perfect storm is unlikely to return for Saquon Barkley, so the Eagles better win it all this year to ensure his sacrifice was worthwhile.
