Saquon won't count Henry out in rushing race: 'He's a special player'

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley isn't ready to declare himself a lock for the NFL's rushing title this season.

Despite having a comfortable lead in the rushing race, Barkley believes Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry still has a chance to overtake him.

"I gotta be careful what I say because Derrick can still get that, you know what I mean?" Barkley said earlier this week, according to Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "He's a special player and you can't count him out of anything."

Barkley leads the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards through 16 games, but he'll be sitting out the Eagles' regular-season finale Sunday against the New York Giants. Henry enters Week 18 with 1,783 rushing yards, 222 away from Barkley's mark.

"I'm not gonna lie, I knew that number," Barkley said. "I talked to him today. He was talking to me to see if I was going to get (the record). Obviously, the news came out that I'm sitting. I told him you could do something special, too. Be the first one to do it twice. You never know."

Henry has led the NFL in rushing twice, including the 2020 campaign when he finished with a career-high 2,027 yards and won Offensive Player of the Year.

Barkley is 101 yards shy of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record.