Eagles’ Saquon Barkley is unlikely to play Sunday vs. New York, Sirianni says

NFL rushing leader and Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will sit out the team’s final game of the season against the New York Giants, coach Nick Sirianni announced in a news conference on Wednesday.

“We’re gonna rest some guys,” Sirianni said in a news conference. “He’ll probably be somebody that rests.”

The coach spoke ahead of the Birds’ final game of the season against the New York Giants, following a blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Barkley, 27, is the league leader in rushing yards with 2,005 in 16 games, over 200 more than the Baltimore Ravens’ Derrick Henry. It’s the most in Barkley’s career and he’s only the ninth RB in history to hit the 2,000 mark.

He’ll finish the season averaging 125.3 rushing yards per game, which would have put him on pace to pass Dickerson. If Barkley did play 17 games at that pace, he would have finished with 2,130 yards.   

He only needed 101 more to beat the season record of 2,105, set by Eric Dickerson when he played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. 

Dickerson has said he doesn’t want his record to be broken. And Philadelphia is locked into the No. 2 seed after the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings won this past week, eliminating the Eagles from getting a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Eagles will open the playoffs in the wild card round next week against the Washington Commanders or Green Bay Packers.

“Obviously it’s a very special record that’s been standing for a very long time by a great player, it’s a team record that everyone’s involved in… but at the end of the day, you try to do what’s best for the team,” Sirianni said. “Our goals are to have success and to play good the next game we play, not only New York but the next team after that.”

The Eagles don’t really have anything to play for on Sunday, and the team will sit some players to keep them healthy for the playoffs — and get them some rest, considering the Birds haven’t had a week off since the very early Week 5 bye week.

In addition to Barkley, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts remains in concussion protocol and isn’t expected to play this week with the No. 2 seed intact. Sirianni didn’t provide an update on No. 2 quarterback Kenny Pickett, who left Sunday’s win over the Dallas Cowboys after aggravating his broken ribs he had during the week leading up to the game. 

“We have just selfless guys who want to do what’s best for the football team and get some guys some rest who have been grinding for the past 12 weeks,” Sirianni said.

Still, Barkley’s shot at the record was alluring — especially to fans. Over 60% of the voters in our poll on Instagram (@CBSPhiladelphia) wanted Barkley to play for the record. But, Sirianni and the Eagles leadership made their choice.

“I would love him to have the record but you know, of course we need him way bigger than the record,” cornerback Darius Slay said recently. “I would love for him to have that record, definitely after what Dickerson said too.”

“Take the week off buddy. Take it off,”  one fan said this week. “Winning the Super Bowl’s a bigger deal.”

Barkley was also 107 yards away from becoming just the third player with 2,400 scrimmage yards in a season — joining Marshall Faulk (1999) and Chris Johnson (2009). He’ll finish the season with 2,293 scrimmage yards, which is also a franchise record.  

Super Bowl LIX will be on Feb. 9. 2025, which, by the way, would be Barkley’s 28th birthday.