Eric Dickerson Reveals Who Could Break His NFL Single-Season Rushing Record (Exclusive)

In 1984, Eric Dickerson rushed for 2,105 yards with the Los Angeles Rams, and it remains the single-season rushing record in the NFL. There have been a few running backs who have come close to breaking the record over the years, but will it happen anytime soon? PopCulture.com recently caught up with Dickerson, who posits how there could very likely be a running back today that could become the new record-holder for most rushing yards in a season. 

“Someone could possibly break that record,” Dickerson told PopCulture. “Derrick Henry had a shot at it, Adrian Peterson had a shot at it. I mean, when you look at a Derrick Henry, even this year, they ran the ball a lot, they were the old school running football team. I hated to see Derrick get hurt. You know, people asked me about the record, I said, ‘Look, I would rather see him shatter that record than get hurt.’ I don’t want to see any player get hurt because he plays my position.

“And as a running back, you respect another great running back. But it’s hard to get 2000 yards, it’s very hard, it’s a lot that has to go perfect. You can get hurt, you can fall behind, you have to have the right offensive line in place even if you don’t have a quarterback. You don’t want to have to see those eight-and nine-man fronts every game. You have to try to break the long run, sometime.”  

Henry, running back for the Tennessee Titans, came close to breaking the record last year, rushing for 2,027 yards in 2020. That total ranks fifth on the all-time list, and he was on pace to have a better season in 2021. However, Henry suffered a foot injury last week and could miss the remainder of the season.”

Currently, there likely isn’t another running back who will rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. Teams today don’t run the ball as much as they did 30 years ago and they use multiple running backs instead of just one featured back. Dickerson, who is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, knows the game is much different from what it was in the 1980s.

“One thing I see, the running backs don’t want to run the football as much,” Dickerson said. “They don’t want to run the ball 20 times this week, 25 times the next week, 30 times. I wanted it. If they called it, I had no problem doing it. I think that’s one of the big things. And they want to throw the football. The league doesn’t want to see a 17-10, 7-3 game, 14-17, they want a 45-42, a 51-51 shootout. You can’t touch the receiver, you can’t touch the quarterback.”