7. Saquon Barkley, New York Giants
Barkley’s 2019 season was mostly a disappointment after he led the NFL with 2,028 yards from scrimmage in his rookie campaign. A high ankle sprain diminished his effectiveness for much of his second season, and the nadir of that was his 13-carry, one-yard performance against the Jets in Week 10 where he couldn’t bounce outside, he was missing three starters on the offensive line, and his own pass protection was uncharacteristically awful.
Jamal Adams just stole Daniel Jones' lunch money pic.twitter.com/OSkA4jx76y
— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) November 10, 2019
Barkley started to put it back together near the end of the season, averaging 108.4 yards per game in December after a November in which he tallied just 29.3 yards per contest. The hope in 2020 is that a healthy Barkley will align with fourth-overall pick Andrew Thomas on an improved front five, new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will add continuity to the run game (no sure thing there), and Barkley will return to form. At his peak, he’s one of the quickest and most elusive backs in the game, and his receiving ability forces defenses to do… well, more than whatever the Washington Football Team was doing on this 33-yard touchdown pass from Daniel Jones.
how to stop a flood with a thimble, by the 2019 washington football something-or-others pic.twitter.com/mpJFJJIOcG
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 26, 2020
Barkley isn’t as quite as transcendent as one might have assumed in his rookie season, but he’s better than what he showed in the middle of the 2019 season when it seemed that everything possible was aligned against him. His third season will say a lot about his future potential.