Anyone who doesn’t know how it feels to shoot themselves in the foot should immediately contact the New York Giants. G-Men are all too familiar with choking when the stakes are high. Choosing to prioritize other positions, like giving their former QB Daniel Jones a $160M contract that came back to haunt them. The Giants’ decision to let go of their former No.2 overall draft pick, Saquon Barkley, will probably give them nightmares every time he wears Kelly Green.

Like their president, John Mara, once said before he signed with the Eagles, “I will have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia.” Now, Saquon didn’t just start a new chapter with the Eagles. He is on his way to redefining the running back records in the NFL. So, when his former coach Brian Daboll was asked to share his thoughts on Barkley surpassing 2,000 rushing yards. The Giants head coach had nothing but admiration for his former offensive rookie of the year, “I’ve said it numerous times, got a lot of respect for Saquon. He’s a heck of a player.

Like, is there any doubt about Barkley’s capabilities whatsoever? Just put aside his numbers with the Phillies for a second. What about New York, where Barkley spent 6 years of his career before joining the Eagles? MetLife Stadium still hasn’t found another player that has more than Barkley’s 2,601 rushing yards at his former home.

But still, they didn’t care about him while refusing to address the contractual situation that kept him in the dark, “I was in the dark. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know where you’re going to be. Everything is kind of up in the air.”

Well, it didn’t stay up in the air for long as Philadelphia came calling with a $37.8M contract. Now, the first time when the two met each other in October. Barkley didn’t have any hate for his former team, who kind of neglected him until he found a new home, “It’s no hate over there.” But here’s the thing: Saquon still needs 100 rushing yards to break Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105. And the only way it would be possible is to rush his former Giants out of Philly next week.

Saquon Barkley set to test his limits against his former employers

Since 1984, none of the running backs have managed to break Eric Dickerson’s rushing yards record in a single season. And what makes it more impressive is that the NFL didn’t even have 17 games in those days. “I don’t think he’ll break it. 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. But I’m not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football,” as per Dickerson. Well, even before Dickerson, the infamous OJ Simpson rushed for 2,003 yards for the first time in 1973.

And that, too, came in just 14 games for the Bills, as Barkley called it almost impossible to replicate, “The way football is right now. It’s kind of hard to rush for 2,000 yards in 14 games.” But keeping aside those arguments, Barkley still calls his achievement a special moment, “So, whether it’s 16, whether it’s 17. It’s a feat that you can never take away from what I was able to do with the O-line. And only eight other players did it, so it’s a special moment.”

Now, the cherry on top would be to break Dickerson’s record against his old team. However, the two-time Pro Bowler isn’t really keen on the records, “I’m not overly trying to go get it. I’m not scared to. I would love to. But at the end of the day, we’ve got bigger things we’re focusing on.” See if Barkley manages to break the all-time rushing yards record for a single season, too, against his once-beloved Giants. It will probably be a huge sucker punch for everyone who didn’t try and retain Barkley in New York.