Saquon Barkley’s epic season has the NFL world forgetting the history set by Chris Johnson with Titans in 2009
NASHVILLE — With Super Bowl LIX around the corner, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has the chance to put a bow on a dream season. Barkley had 2,005 rushing yards and 15 total touchdowns in 16 games played in 2024. He is the current betting favorite to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year, […]
NASHVILLE — With Super Bowl LIX around the corner, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has the chance to put a bow on a dream season.
Barkley had 2,005 rushing yards and 15 total touchdowns in 16 games played in 2024. He is the current betting favorite to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and now he’s just four quarters away from finishing it with a Super Bowl ring.
It would be one of the greatest seasons we have ever seen from a running back. But during the Super Bowl LIX media festivities, former Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson reminded us all about how special his 2009 campaign was.
Even in comparison to Barkley, I don’t think we give enough love to how good CJ2K was in his prime.
“My 2,500 yards…they haven’t broke it or anything like that,” Johnson said in an interview with PFT Live. “You talk about this year with Saquon. They talk about Eric Dickerson. They don’t talk about 2,500 yards.”
Johnson is referring to his 2,509 yards from scrimmage that he totaled in 16 games for the 2009 Titans. While that season is best known for him eclipsing the 2,000 rushing yard milestone and becoming one of six (at the time) running backs to do so, Johnson also became the all-time leader in yards from scrimmage.
2,509 is a record that still holds up to this day. And he’s right. We don’t talk about it enough.
Maybe it’s because Derrick Henry became a 2,000-yard rusher for the same franchise in 2020. Maybe it’s because the 2009 Titans were a forgettable 8-8.
I’d like to remind everyone about how that team played in eight games with less than 200 passing yards. After six weeks, that Titans team was 0-6 and had turned the ball over 18 times! They lost a game 59-0…..and Johnson put them on his back for the second half and got them back to an even 8-8.
Johnson played in just one playoff game in his career. But that’s got very little to do with him. So while Barkley is deserving of all of the praise and attention he is getting leading up to Super Bowl LIX, let us also consider than Johnson may still have the best single season a running back has ever had.
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