Saquon Barkley’s odds of breaking the NFL rushing record next season remain a hot topic among fans and analysts alike.
While Eric Dickerson’s formidable rushing record stands firm for another year, Barkley is not ready to give up the chase.
Will the Philadelphia Eagles’ standout running back, who recently earned the title of Offensive Player of the Year, finally etch his name into history next season after coming so close this past year?
As of February 14, the early odds at FanDuel Sportsbook suggest that Barkley has a +3300 chance to break the single-season rushing yardage record of 2,106 yards during the 2025-26 regular season (bet $10 to win $340 total).
Back in 1984, Dickerson set the bar high with a staggering 2,105 rushing yards for the Los Angeles Rams, achieving this in just 16 games at an average of 131.5 yards per game. Remarkably, he surpassed the 100-yard mark 12 times, including two games where he exceeded 200 yards.
In comparison, Barkley finished the 2024 regular season with 2,005 rushing yards, averaging 125.3 yards per game over 16 games. He also crossed the 100-yard threshold 11 times and had one game where he rushed for over 200 yards.
Interestingly, while Dickerson averaged 5.6 yards per carry that season (2,105 yards on 379 carries), Barkley achieved a slightly higher average of 5.8 yards per carry (2,005 yards on 345 carries) in 2024.
After surpassing the 2,000-yard milestone before Week 17, speculation swirled around whether Barkley would attempt to break the record in the final game of the regular season, especially since the Eagles had already secured the NFC East title and the No. 2 seed for the playoffs.
He was a mere 101 yards away from the record.
Ultimately, Barkley and head coach Nick Sirianni opted to rest him in Week 17 to prepare for the Eagles’ Super Bowl aspirations.
For context, the closest Dickerson came to reaching 2,000 rushing yards again was in 1986, when he recorded 1,821 rushing yards on 404 carries.
Before this past season, Barkley’s previous career high was 1,312 rushing yards on 295 carries in 2022.
