Barkley hopes to be Giant leader

It is all starting to finally sink in for Saquon Barkley.

The Giants running back and No. 2 pick in the draft got his first taste of football in a Big Blue uniform at rookie mini-camp on Friday and was the one who got to break down the huddle following the team’s morning walkthrough.

“I was able to break down the team for the Giants,” Barkley said with a smile as the team gathered around him at the end of the walkthrough and he pumped them up. “Not many people can say that, a lot of people wish they could say that.”

It was a small, but significant moment of the day for Barkley.

The Giants drafted the 22-yearold running back out of Penn State for his playmaking abilities, but Barkley is embracing the concept of being a leader on the field, even as a rookie.

“You have to start off by leading by example,” Barkley said. “When you have to be vocal ... whether it is a break down or you are learning something a lot faster than someone else and you try and help them in that area or someone is learning faster than you and you ask them. Those are the ways I will try and grow and to lead.”

While the leadership aspect Barkley brings to the table is important, he also understands his responsibilities on the field extend beyond being a running back.

Barkley knows the expectations for him are sky-high as he joins a team trying to desperately squeeze another Super Bowl run out of 37-year-old quarterback Eli Manning. Those expectations are magnified even more by the criticism that taking a running back with the No. 2 pick is ill-advised.

Barkley hears it, but does not buy into any of it.

“I look at myself as more than a running back,” he said. “I am not a guy that just lines up in the back field and is going to bang his head, bang his head, bang his head. I am a guy that is willing to do anything for his team. Whether it be a kick returner or a punt returner, running down on kickoffs, lining up in the slot, running a dummy play or a fake play, whatever it takes. I want to be an athlete, not just a running back. Obviously, I play the running back position but I want to be an all-around guy and an all-around player.”

The rookie certainly exudes maturity, but he is still a rookie who needs to learn the ropes of playing in an NFL offense.

He admitted on Friday that he is still learning the playbook, which he said was different than what he was used to at Penn State, but he is up for the challenge.

“I think personally, I learn really quick,” he said. “A lot of things are different I guess you could say, but we ran a lot of similar stuff in college except it had different terminology. Instead of running out of the (shot) gun all the time, they run out of the ‘I’ (formation)... At the end of the day, it is football.”

Head coach Pat Shurmur said the one quality that has stood out about Barkley is that he does not expect to be handed anything and is willing to learn.

“Regardless of what my expectations are for him, he has to come out here and train and do it,” said Shurmur.