The Philadelphia Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC, but they have a decision to make with running back Saquon Barkley, who is 99 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's rushing record. Will Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni play Barkley against his old team, the New York Giants, to let him pursue the record, or will he sit out and prepare for the playoffs? There is no decision made yet, but he elaborated on what will go into that decision.
“I'll talk to our staff, I'll talk to the players, I'll talk to [general manager] Howie [Roseman], I'll talk to Mr. Lurie. I'll talk to everybody to try and make sure I'm making the best decision for the football team,” Nick Sirianni said, according to ESPN.
Sirianni went on to say that he is balancing what the best thing is for the Eagles and what the best thing is for the player. In Barkley's case, it would not be a surprise if he is fine with sitting out, as he declined staying in the game to go for a record against the Giants earlier in the season.
“What's the best thing for the team, and then also, what's the best things for the individuals going for the record?” Sirianni said.
The Eagles do not need the win, but Jalen Hurts missed last week's game with a concussion, so is it possible that he plays some to get back into the swing of things before the playoffs? Sirianni then went on to say that he was faced with this type of decision with DeVonta Smith in 2021.
“If you think back a couple of years ago to 2021, Smitty was going for the rookie receiver record,” Sirianni said. “Everybody else was resting, but we wanted for everyone else — whatever it was — we didn't play some other guys in that game, but we went and got him that record,” Sirianni said. “Every situation is a little different. Not saying one way or the other or how that's going to play out or even that I made a decision yet.”
The difference in this case was that Smith was close to breaking his record, while Barkley needs around 100 yards rushing, which could take the whole game. This is certainly a layer of intrigue and a balancing act for Sirianni ahead of this week's game against the Giants.
