Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni announced on Wednesday afternoon that due to being locked into the NFC Playoffs' No. 2 seed, the team will be sitting some starters in their Week 18 matchup vs. the Giants.

Among said starters resting on Sunday? Running back Saquon Barkley—who is just 101 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing yards record.

The 27-year-old relayed his honest reaction to the news in the Eagles' locker room on Wednesday:

"Coach asked me what I'd like to do," Barkley explained. "We had a conversation. He called me back and let me know that we were probably going to be resting. My reaction was kinda like—I told my family, obviously my family probably wanted [the record] a little bit more than me—but at the end of the day the most important thing is winning football games and winning in the playoffs. I've got a bigger goal in mind anyway."

"[Sirianni] asked me if I wanted to play, if I wanted to go for it.," he continued. "I said [last] Sunday I probably didn't care too much for it. When I slept on it I was like, it's an opportunity to implant my name in football history, I may never get an opportunity like that again, so I'm down. But at the end of the day, I don't care if I'm putting the team at risk. He's the head coach for a reason. He makes those decisions and whatever decision he wanted to make, I let him know if [he] wanted me to play I’m gonna out there and make sure I get [the record], and if you don't I'm okay with that too."

Barkley signed a three-year, $37.5 million contract with the Eagles this offseason after spending his first six NFL seasons with the division-rival Giants. He's finishing his first year in Philadelphia with 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns on 345 carries (5.8 YPC) across 16 games. Barkley is just the ninth player in league history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season.

As the No. 2 seed in the NFC Playoffs, the Eagles will host a playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field on the weekend of Jan. 18-19.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Saquon Barkley Relays Honest Reaction to Finding Out He Won't Play in Eagles Season Finale.

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