Saquon Barkley is the latest running back to have a 2,000-yard season, the first to achieve the feat since Derrick Henry (2020) and the ninth in NFL history. Barkley is the seventh of the 2,000-yard rushers whose team qualified for the postseason, a history that doesn't favor the running back.
Of the seven 2,000-yard rushers to make the playoffs, only one has won the Super Bowl -- the Broncos' Terrell Davis in 1998. The rest of the running backs who had their 2,000-yard seasons lost their first playoff game -- in the wild-card round no less.
Certainly feast or famine for Barkley, who has a very tough task in order to reverse the trend.
2,000-yard rushers -- how they fared in playoffs
| RB | Year | How Team Fared in Playoffs | Rushing yards in playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|
Eric Dickerson | 1984 | L, wild-card round | 107 |
Barry Sanders | 1997 | L, wild-card round | 65 |
Terrell Davis | 1998 | W, Super Bowl | 468 (156.0 per game) |
Jamal Lewis | 2003 | L, wild-card round | 35 |
Adrian Peterson | 2012 | L, wild-card round | 99 |
Derrick Henry | 2020 | L, wild-card round | 40 |
Of the 2,000-yard rushers in the postseason, only Davis and Henry had a quarterback who finished in the top five in passer rating. Davis ended up having one of the great postseasons for a running back in NFL history, averaging 156.0 rushing yards per game and three touchdowns as the Broncos won Super Bowl XXXIII. Henry had Ryan Tannehill in 2020, one year removed from the Titans reaching the AFC Championship game.
The results are clearly mixed in regards to what will determine Barkley's success in the postseason. Jalen Hurts finished in the top five in passer rating as well, making it hard to determine how the Eagles will fare come Sunday. The Eagles do have one of the better quarterbacks in the league, far from what many of the other 2,000-yard rushers had to deal with.
Adrian Peterson had Joe Webb. Jamal Lewis had Anthony Wright. Eric Dickerson had Jeff Kemp. Not exactly a fair fight.
History isn't in Barkley's favor come Sunday, but the Eagles are a talented enough team to swing it in their favor.