Saquon Barkley has 1,392 rushing yards through 11 games, which is more than 21 NFL teams. He is far and away the most productive runner in 2024.

The single-season record is 2,105 yards, set by Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson back in 1984. So Saquon would need 713 yards to tie that mark and 714 to take the record. With six games remaining, that’s 119 yards per game required.

Thing is, Dickerson set that record when the NFL season was 16 games, and the record he broke belonged to O.J. Simpson, who did it in 14 games. So Dickerson’s yards per game total ended up being 131.6. Barkley is currently averaging 126.5, so if you extrapolated through 17 games, that would get him to 2,150.

Look at it this way:

  • Dickerson (16 games) – 2,105 yards, 131.6 yards per game
  • Barkley (17 games) 2,106 yards to break the record would equal 123.8 per game

There’s a situation where Saquon breaks the record, but does it because of the extra game. There’s also the possibility that he doesn’t play the final game because the Eagles are resting their starters. Back in 1984, the Rams were 10-5 when Dickerson played his 16th game, in which he went for 107 on the ground against the Giants. If Saquon were to match Dickerson’s 131.6 yards per game, which is the real measure of accomplishment, he’d need to finish with 2,237 yards total through the full 17-game slate.