He may not have played a single down in the final game of the regular season, but [autotag]Saquon Barkley[/autotag] still ended the NFL regular season as the league’s rushing champion.
Barkley ended his historic season with 2,005 rushing yards in his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles. Barkley is the first Eagles player and the first Penn State product to lead the NFL in rushing yards in a single season. Barkley is the ninth player in NFL history to rush for at least 2,000 yards, but his pursuit of the single-season rushing record came up 101 yards shy of rewriting the record book after the Eagles opted to rest their starters before the playoffs.
The 2,005 rushing yards is the most by a former Penn State running back in the NFL since Larry Johnson rushed for 1,789 yards in 2006. Johnson, who had a 2,000-yard season for Penn State in 2002, also rushed for 1,750 yards in 2005.
Barkley will have a chance to do something no other running back in NFL history has accomplished when the 2025 season begins. Barkley could become the NFL’s first two-time 2,000-yard rusher if he can duplicate the success he had this season behind the Eagles’ stellar offensive line.
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Barkley and the Eagles will host the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round on Sunday, Jan. 12.
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