NFL Analysis
1/26/25
7 min read
Ranking NFL's Best RB Seasons Of All-Time, Where Does Saquon Barkley Land?
The Philadelphia Eagles are heading to the Super Bowl, and it wouldn't have been possible without an all-time historic season from running back Saquon Barkley.
Barkley got the party started on Sunday with a 60-yard touchdown on the first play of the game for the Eagles offense. Philadelphia went on to win 55-23 in an absolute blowout. Barkley rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns on just 15 carries, taking care of business without taking on a massive workload.
i think Saquon told Hurts to reload the original play there after he checked into a gun run. pic.twitter.com/2mUwt6gion
— Steven Ruiz (@theStevenRuiz) January 26, 2025
In his first year with the Eagles, Barkley has put up a season that has only happened a couple of times. He's just a handful of yards away from 2,500 rushing yards in the regular season and postseason combined, which would be the first such season in NFL history.
However, if the season ended today, where would Barkley's year stack up against some of the all-time performances in NFL history when accounting for regular season and playoff success? Here are the five most impactful seasons for a running back, along with a deserving honorable mention.
Top 5 Running Back Seasons of All Time
Honorable Mention: 1982, John Riggins
A strike-shortened season from a fullback may not seem like anything special. However, what John Riggins did at 33 years old is one of the most incredible feats in NFL history.
The numbers weren't anything spectacular in the regular season, with Riggins rushing for 553 yards and three touchdowns on a league-leading 177 carries. However, once the playoffs began, Riggins went on a historic run.
In four playoff games, Riggins set NFL records with 136 carries and 610 rushing yards, the most in either category in a single postseason. He led the Redskins to an NFL championship, winning Super Bowl MVP with 166 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.
That's an incredible workload for a fullback and even more impressive considering his age. Riggins went on to score 24 rushing touchdowns a year later at 34 years old, but his postseason run is what deserves recognition on this list of all-time season performances.
5. 1999, Marshall Faulk
Marshall Faulk may not have had the postseason production of some other players on this list, but his regular season dominance, plus a Super Bowl ring, deservedly put him on this list.
The 1999 season was the start of Faulk's dominant three-year stretch, winning Offensive Player of the Year for three straight seasons. He led the NFL with 5.5 yards per carry in the regular season, rushing for 1,381 yards and seven touchdowns.
However, it was Faulk's dual-threat ability that season that got him on the list. He added another 87 catches for 1,048 yards and five scores, becoming one of just three NFL players in NFL history with 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in the same season.
Kurt Warner and the rest of the Greatest Show on Turf handled things once the playoffs began, with defenses so focused on shutting Faulk down. The limited postseason production hurts him slightly, but Faulk's iconic season deserves all-time recognition.
4. 1995, Emmitt Smith
There are so many iconic Emmitt Smith seasons that deserve recognition, but the final of his three Super Bowl runs deserves a special place in history.
Smith finished the 1995 season leading the league in carries, yards, and rushing touchdowns, rushing 377 times for 1,773 yards and 25 touchdowns. He didn't slow down once the postseason began, either, rushing for another 298 yards and six touchdowns in the postseason.
1995 Week 16, Giants vs Cowboys
— Peirce Conboy (@pgconb) July 12, 2024
Moose picks up a double as Emmitt Smith ties the NFL rushing TD record with his 24th of the season (I might come back to this play and do a picture in a picture as I think it reminds me of another TD a decade later). pic.twitter.com/721lt2IIL3
Those 31 total rushing touchdowns are the most ever by a running back in the regular season and postseason combined. Smith would go on to set NFL records in carries, yards, and touchdowns, continuing to produce at a high level through the 2004 season at 35 years old.
The Cowboys aren't the same franchise that they used to be, but the Emmitt Smith era will be remembered fondly because of the legendary running back's longevity and incredible postseason runs.
3. 1997, Terrell Davis
John Elway is remembered as a two-time Super Bowl champion, but the legendary quarterback and the Denver Broncos don't become a historic franchise without the efforts of Terrell Davis.
A sixth-round pick in 1995, Davis hit the ground running as a 1,000-yard rusher in his rookie season before becoming an Offensive Player of the Year the next year in 1996. That third year, however, is when Davis became a Super Bowl champion.
Davis finished the 1997 season with 1,750 rushing yards and a league-leading 15 touchdowns. He took his game up a notch once the playoffs began, setting an NFL record with eight postseason rushing touchdowns to go along with 581 yards and a Super Bowl MVP.
His Super Bowl MVP performance included three rushing touchdowns, all while missing an entire quarter due to a migraine. It's an iconic season and is only a couple of notches behind the two all-time performances ahead of it.
2. 2024, Saquon Barkley
A new team, a 2,000-yard season, and a viral backward hurdle have turned this into the most iconic season for a running back in the 21st century. A Super Bowl ring is all that's missing for Barkley to post the greatest regular season and playoff run in the history of the sport.
Saquon Barkley just did a reverse hurdle and jumped over a guy backwards 😳 pic.twitter.com/n5qFtH7USM
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 3, 2024
Barkley's regular season was impressive, rushing for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns. He had a chance to break the all-time rushing record but was benched for the team's Week 18 game with their playoff position secured. The move to rest Barkley panned out, however, with the superstar running back rushing for 442 yards and five touchdowns in three playoff games.
With 2,447 combined rushing yards in 2024, Barkley needs just 53 more yards in the Super Bowl to become the first player in the history of the league to break 2,500 rushing yards during the course of the regular season and playoffs.
After years of production with the New York Giants, Barkley finally got a taste of what a deep playoff run feels like this season with the Eagles. He still has some work to do, but if the Eagles can pull out a win, then Barkley will solidify his status with the greatest season from an NFL running back.
1. 1998, Terrell Davis
What was better than Terrell Davis' 1997 run? His performance the very next season.
During the course of 19 games in 1998, Davis averaged an absurd 5.27 yards per carry with an all-time record of 2,476 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns. His regular season was also the only one in NFL history with 2,000 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns, reaching 2,008 yards and 21 scores.
The accolades rained in that season for Davis. He was named the league's MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, leading the league in rushing yards and touchdowns.
Back-to-back Super Bowl rings just four years into his career had it looking like Davis could go down as the greatest player in the history of the running back position. Unfortunately, injuries completely derailed his career after 1998, keeping fans wondering what could have been with the Hall of Famer.
No one has ever been able to stop TD's 1998 season, but that is now in jeopardy after such a dominant year from Saquon Barkley.