Former New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz says he would have been “upset” had Saquon Barkley broken the single-season rushing record against their former team, but it would have been “fun” to see him do it.

Barkley, one of the favorites for the MVP award this season, entered the Week 18 season finale against the Giants 101 rushing yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record. Considering Barkley averaged 125.3 rushing yards per game this season, it's probably safe to assume he would have done it.

However, head coach Nick Sirianni announced just prior to the game that Barkley would not be playing in the season finale due to the Eagles already having the No. 2 seed locked in in the NFC.

“It would have been fun to see him break that record and really do it,” says Cruz in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with Finish Ultimate. “It would have hurt because it would have been done against the Giants. I would have been upset at that, but I would have been excited for him as a friend to do something special for himself.”

Cruz says from a “selfish” perspective, he would have had Barkley go for the record. However, he understands Barkley and the Eagles are playing for a Super Bowl, which is the primary reason the Pro Bowl running back sat out in Week 18.

“Selfishly, I would have loved for him to go in,” says Cruz. “I would have loved to just put him in there and get him yardage from a selfish fan perspective. But you have to understand that they're playing for bigger things. I've obviously had many conversations with him and understand kind of who he is and what he wants from his career, and he wants to go down as one of the greats, right?

“I think in order to do that, you have to win a couple Super Bowls,” Cruz continues to say. “Let's start with one — but you have to put yourself in contention for more.”

Saquon Barkley's chances of winning MVP 

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) in action against the Green Bay Packers in an NFC wild card game at Lincoln Financial Field.
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

With Barkley finishing short of the record, he faces an uphill battle to win the MVP award. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson are the favorites to win the award, with Barkley considered a distant third.

However, had Barkley broke the record, Cruz says the Eagles star would deserve the MVP award. Barkley would be the first running back since Adrian Peterson in 2012 and just the second running back since 2007 to win the MVP award.

“It would have been hard not to give it to him,” says Cruz of Barkley's MVP chances had he broken the record. “When you have a year like that, you break a record that hasn't been touched in a long time. When you look at it, they have an extra game and Eric Dickerson still has that record and it's untouched. I think it's a really special record to hold.

“The fact that no one's gotten it, with the likes of Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey's of the world, that the record is still intact, is pretty special,” Cruz continues to say. “It would have been pretty cool to see him break it.”