The Philadelphia Eagles took a tough decision for their star player, Saquon Barkley. Despite Barkley and his teammates wanting the running back to play for the once in a lifetime historic moment, head coach Nick Sirianni made a harsh announcement for the final Week 18 game of this regular season, which did hurt many.

Saquon Barkley is just 101 yards away from making NFL history. Can you feel the excitement? He is about to surpass Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record (2,105 yards), which has stood untouched since 1984. With the way Barkley has been carrying his team all season, it felt inevitable. However, now the running back won’t be able to create this history, as coach Nick Sirianni has decided to bench Barkley in the Week 18 game against the Giants.

Hence, as obvious, Saquon Barkley is upset, and as per Eliot Shorr Parks, Eagles reporter for 94WIP.com, “Saquon Barkley says his dad probably took the news the hardest. Says having the family name attached to the record would have been nice.”

Coming so close to making history and opting out of it definitely hurts. It would also be hard for the HC to take this decision at the crucial time of the games. But, as we know, the main reason behind coach Sirianni’s decision is to save Saquon Barkley from any potential mis-happening. Any injury to the star RB of the team would have cost the franchise’s Super Bowl hopes. And Barkley knows this! That’s why he is with Sirianni’s decision to bench.

This is evident in his latest remarks: “When I slept on it, I was like this is an opportunity to implement my name in football history. You may never get an opportunity like that again, so I’m down. But I don’t care (about it) if I’m putting the team at risk. He’s the head coach for the reason. He makes the decisions and whatever decision he wanted to make. If he wanted me to play, I’m gonna go out there and make sure I’d get it. If we don’t, I was okay with that too.” Well, that was indeed touching, as Barkley said it with a heavy heart.

Nevertheless, Saquon Barkley is also happy that his teammates supported him.

Saquon Barkley feels grateful for his new team!

When he was with the Giants, Barkley suffered multiple injuries. Many questioned his performance. But now, since the Eagles have traded for him, everything appears to have changed. It won’t be wrong to say that the team is mostly dependent on their key players, and Barkley is one of those names.

Now, not only does Saquon Barkley get targets more often in this team, he is also being loved by all. For instance, earlier when the franchise was in dilemma to allow the running back to play Week 18, many of his teammates, including Jordan Mailata were all in. Hence, when the reporters asked Barkley about his thoughts on those team members, the RB went emotional. He said, “I think it’s pretty cool that as bad as I wanted the record, the linemen wanted it too. My name would be the one in there, in the history books, they would have been the ones that would have done it for me.”

The Eagles are going to play against Saquon Barkley’s former team, the Giants on Sunday, January 5, 2025. Barkley will be there to cheer them from the sidelines.