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New York Giant fans love Saquon Barkley. He’s exciting, charismatic and the perfect face of the franchise. But the truth of the matter is, Barkley shouldn’t be a Giant at all. That is, if management had any clue of what they were doing at the time.
The Giants made Barkley, a superstar, game-changing back at Penn State, the second overall election in the 2018 NFL Draft. He went on to amass over 2,000 yards from scrimmage as a rookie, was named to the Pro Bowl and beat out No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield of Cleveland for Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
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Since then however, Barkley has struggled to stay healthy. In 2019, a high ankle sprain caused him to miss several games and rendered him ineffective for more than half the season. Last year, he suffered a torn ACL in the second week of the season and underwent season-ending surgery.
Although Barkley is the cornerstone of the franchise and sells goodwill and jerseys, his presence has failed to move the needle for the Giants. They are still a losing team three years later. Chris Roling of Bleacher Report named the drafting of Barkley the Giants’ biggest mistake of the last five years.
Barkley is fun to watch and great at what he does; it just doesn’t move the needle all that much and the great injury risk to the position became a factor quickly. The team needed a different sort of impact for the rebuild with such a prized asset, whether it was a different prospect or trading it for multiple picks. Now, instead of contending, the Giants will stare a costly long-term extension for Barkley right in the face soon.
Very true. The Giants screwed up by falling in love with Barkley. General manager Dave Gettleman called him a “gold jacket” player and went against the grain by taking him so high in the draft. In this day and age running backs — no matter how talented — should never be taken with the second overall pick.
The Giants now know this but back then they did not. The second overall pick is normally reserved for either a quarterback, offensive tackle, pass rusher or trade bait. Instead, the Giants saddled themselves with a running back with a modern injury history (wasn’t an issue in college) and are still searching for player(s) at those other positions. They also will have to play Barkley premium moolah to keep him in the fold going forward.
Looking back on the 2018 NFL Draft, the Giants did not make the best use of the No. 2 overall pick. They could have made the colossal mistake of taking USC quarterback Sam Darnold, who went to the Jets at No. 3, or traded backs few spots and landed Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, a budding superstar who las led the Buffalo Bills back to prominence. They then could have taken Georgia running back Nick Chubb in the second round like Cleveland did.
Other players they could have selected by trading back are Quentin Nelson, Denzel Ward, Bradley Chubb, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Frank Ragnow, Trumaine Edmunds, Jaire Alexander, Derwin James and Darius Leonard — all Pro Bowlers.
Taking a quarterback such as Allen would have given them more flexibility in 2019. They would not have taken Daniel Jones at No. 6. They could have leveraged that pick into more capital and beefed up their roster and had Allen as their centerpiece.
But instead, they are tethered to Barkley, a player that needs to have a monster year in 2021 for the team to even consider extending him beyond his rookie contract. That won’t be easy, especially coming off a serious injury and the Giants having so many mouths to feed on offense now.
The Giants learned their lesson the hard way. This year, they were wheelers and dealers at the draft, trading back and still getting viable players while collecting future draft picks. Had they done that the past few years their rise back into the playoff picture would be over by now.
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