Eric Dickerson made headlines last week when he said he didn’t want Saquon Barkley to break his single-season rushing record. Who could blame him?
It’s a record that’s stood since he set it in 1984, rushing for 2,105 yards one year after he set the rookie rushing mark – another record that’s stood to this day.
“I don’t think he’ll break it,” Dickerson told the LA Times. “But if he breaks it, he breaks it. Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull no punches on that.”
Naturally, there were some people who took issue with Dickerson’s comments. Among them was LeSean McCoy, who claimed Dickerson was “hating” and called him “grandpa” for rooting against Barkley.
Damn if this ain’t some hating old head sh….. I can’t imagine at 60 hating on young players 😂😂😂 grandpa we you hating so hard https://t.co/jAX9Ve59RP
— LeSean Shady Mccoy (@CutonDime25) December 27, 2024
“Records are meant to be broken,” McCoy said on FOX Sports. “You paved the way for guys like Saquon to break the record. It’s going to be a young kid; I don’t know, 30 from now, 40 years from now, it’s going to break Saquon’s record. As running backs we got to stick together because they always trying to break us down. Eric Dickerson, you should do better, homie. Stop the hating and more applauding.”
This week, Dickerson doubled down on his stance regarding Barkley’s pursuit of the record.
“Absolutely not!” Dickerson told USA TODAY Sports when asked if he’s changed his mind. “That doesn’t even make sense. Like I told the guy earlier, I don’t want nobody to break my record. These people who say, ‘records are meant to be broken,’ you ain’t got no record. You don’t have one. When you get those records, you want to hang on to them.”
Nothing Dickerson has said about Barkley and the rushing record is wrong. Even if “records are meant to be broken,” that doesn’t mean the person holding the record should be rooting for someone else to break it.
McCoy is in no position to criticize Dickerson, nor is anyone else. He has every right to want his record to stand, which it will for at least one more year because Barkley will get Week 18 off with the Eagles locked into the No. 2 seed.
But of course, Dickerson felt the need to clarify his comments – primarily because of McCoy’s outcry for him to “do better.”
He released a video on social media Thursday explaining his reasoning, saying he’s a “Saquon Barkley fan.”
“McCoy, brother. Know your football,” he said. “I love running backs. I’m a running back. … I would never hate on another running back. That’s not me. So like I said, know your history about running backs.”
Clearing up the misrepresentation of my views on Saquon and the rushing title… pic.twitter.com/CvJPIgUcQk
— Eric Dickerson (@EricDickerson) January 2, 2025
If anyone’s wrong in this situation, it’s McCoy. Who is he to say Dickerson should want Barkley to break his record?
Maybe McCoy said what he did for the attention. Maybe he actually believes Dickerson should root for Barkley. Either way, his outrage over the Hall of Famer’s comments is unfounded.
Dickerson should want his record to stand for another 40 years. And there’s a chance it will. No one should tell a legend he should want history to be stripped from him for the benefit of another player.