Eagles running back Saquon Barkley sets the NFL’s season rushing record, including the playoffs
— Saquon Barkley set an NFL single-season rushing record in the Super Bowl, held his young daughter as a torrent of confetti fluttered around them and flashed a smile as he held a Philadelphia newspaper with “CHAMPS!” stamped above his photo.
The Eagles running back then grasped what he really wanted to kiss and hold on this night in the Superdome — what he could only hope was ahead following his tumultuous end in New York that diverted his career down the turnpike to Philadelphia.
The 2,000-yard rusher earned his turn with the Lombardi Trophy 2025.
Barkley finished with a modest 57 yards rushing in Eagles’ 40-22 win over Kansas City in the Super Bowl — a paltry number for an elite back who posted seven touchdown runs of 60-plus yards this season — but the total was enough to set the NFL single-season rushing record, postseason included, topping the mark of 2,476 yards set by Terrell Davis.
He ended perhaps the greatest debut season of any free agent in Philadelphia sports history on perhaps the greatest championship team the city has ever seen with 2,504 total yards rushing and 18 rushing touchdowns.
Barkley, the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year, needed only 30 yards to top Davis’ total set in 1998 when he helped the Denver Broncos win the Super Bowl. Also that season, Davis was the last running back to win Super Bowl MVP.
His 2,005 yards rushing in the regular season made Barkley the ninth running back in NFL history to top 2,000 yards and he entered the Super Bowl with 2,447 total rushing yards.
Barkley’s seven touchdowns of 60-plus yards (that includes the postseason) were a record and he joined Davis as one of only two players in NFL history with at least 400 yards rushing and five touchdowns in a single postseason.
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