Why LeSean McCoy is rooting for Saquon Barkley to break his record originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
If Saquon Barkley can manage to pick up 109 yards on the ground on Sunday afternoon, he would break LeSean McCoy’s franchise record for rushing yards in a season.
No one is rooting for him harder than Shady.
“Yeah, man, records are meant to be broken,” McCoy said to NBC Sports Philadelphia this week. “And it’s a tribute to the respect we have for each other. I love competitors, man, I love what he’s doing for my team.
“The cool thing is when he broke my single-game rushing record, I was in the building, I was with Mr. (Jeffrey) Lurie watching the game. That was kind of cool. If you seen the mic’d up, he said, ‘We broke the record, we broke Shady’s record.’ We’re competing. I love people that push the position forward so I’m all for it.”
It has been a magical season for Barkley in his first year with the Eagles. Through just 12 games, he is leading the NFL with 1,499 rushing yards, an average of 124.9 yards per game and a yards-per-carry average of 6.1. Barkley broke McCoy’s single-game record with a 255-yard performance against the Rams last month with McCoy rooting him on in Los Angeles.
Barkley appreciates the love from the Eagles Hall of Famer.
“That’s the support that he’s shown me from the beginning,” Barkley said. “I get a lot of love and support now but there was a lot of people who weren’t on board with the Eagles’ signing a running back so from the jump, he’s been having my back and I’m super excited about that.”
Just 108 yards behind Shady, it’s not really matter of if Barkley will break McCoy’s record — it’s a matter of when. And the Eagles on Sunday will play a Panthers team that is dead last in the NFL in rushing defense.
McCoy’s franchise record of 1,607 rushing yards has stood since the 2013 season. That year, he topped Wilbert Montgomery’s record of 1,512 from 1979. Barkley, who said he looked up all the franchise records after he signed with the Eagles, has a chance to pass both legends on Sunday:
LeSean McCoy in 2013: 1,607
Wilbert Montgomery in 1979: 1,512
Saquon barkley in 2024: 1,499
For McCoy, it has just been fun getting to watch this special season from an Eagles running back.
“It’s exciting,” McCoy said. “It’s very rare that you get guys with his kind of unique talent. And now you see his unique talent with the best O-line in football and some really good play calling. And now we’re back on that elite level of championship contenders. Without Saquon, we don’t have that. A true Eagles fan, they know what I’m talking about. He gives us that hope that we’ll have that confetti coming down again.”
After breaking the single-game rushing record, Barkley kept saying “we” broke it to his offensive line. McCoy knows how much the linemen up front care about these kinds of records and accolades and said they probably know the stats even better than Barkley does.
Even head coach Nick Sirianni is excited about Barkley’s approach of the record.
“You get excited about that for the guys because that’s a team award,” Sirianni said before confirming that Shady was the record holder. “So potentially overtaking one of the greatest running backs to play here. If not the greatest running back to play here, and one of the great running backs that’s played in the league.”
McCoy said he and Barkley have had a good relationship for years and he’ll reach out to him periodically. He said he’ll definitely reach out to congratulate Barkley when that franchise rushing record falls.
But McCoy doesn’t want Barkley to stop there.
Through 12 games, Barkley is on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s NFL rushing record of 2,105 yards set back in 1984.
“He’s gotta go for that,” McCoy said. “I told him, man, I get you want to save your body or whatever. And the ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl for sure, but rare times come along like this. And it’s been years since Eric Dickerson’s record was set and you have a chance to surpass that.
“Man, go get that record. Because it’s bigger than Saquon Barkley. This award is for all of us running backs. There were people who tried to devalue the position and now we have a guy that can bring the value back up for the running backs and this could be set for the next 20, 30 years. So go get it.”
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