Give Saquon opportunity to write his next chapter
THE WORLD was his oyster, the bright and shiny new face of the New York Giants, a dream homecoming for a dream talent who was not only going to run into the franchise record books, but into the Hall of Fame as well.
He was Saquads, a freakish force of nature who would cut a terrifying swath through NFL defenses and help Eli Manning chase one more Super Bowl crown.
He was all but hailed as Superman, and with Odell Beckham Jr. as Batman, and Pat Shurmur as play-caller, fasten your seat belts, everyone.
Alas, here we are four years later, four years that must seem like an eternity to Saquon Barkley, four years stripped off a running back’s precarious career, the past two years wasted by injury and widespread ineptitude and overwhelmed by darkness ... and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for him. And the clock is ticking on him.
He has been tested physically and mentally and emotionally and spiritually in a way that he has never ever been tested. So much so that Giants fans should hope he can head into another winter of his discontent with back-to-back 100-yard games if for no other reason than it might allow him to still believe that he can be Saquon Barkley again one day.
No matter who the new GM is, whether Joe Judge stays as head coach or not, the Giants should not abandon hope for Saquon Barkley to turn back the clock to his rookie season, when he was true to his word that he was more than a running back, that he was a weapon who could break ankles and break the hearts of defenders.
For these reasons:
He will only turn 25 during Super Bowl Week. Because of the devastating knee injury that sabotaged his 2020 season, because of the ankle injury that sabotaged his return from the knee injury, there is plenty of tread left on those tires.
He is fiercely committed to excellence and dedicated to his craft.
And unless he is just blowing smoke, or unless he is a masochist, he tells us he wants to be part of the solution and juke skeptics and doubters who have started to wonder whether he might be part of the problem.
He deserves a chance to change the narrative on his Giants career.
Because let’s face it, he came to the wrong franchise at the wrong time.
Manning was on the 18th green and the offensive line bogeyed one block and one game at a time ... and somehow, Barkley (261-1,307-11 TDs and 91-721-4 TDs receiving) was as advertised, and he was advertised by GM Dave Gettleman as a Gold Jacket Guy.
He quieted some in the analytics crowd, which was vehement that it is folly to use the second-overall pick on a running back.
But midway through that rookie season, Gettleman abruptly changed course. The Giants suddenly were not trying to win while rebuilding. They would be rebuilding. From mid-2018 to seemingly forever.
Beckham was exiled to Cleveland in March 2019. Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones replaced Manning in Week 3 of the 2019 season. Barkley (217-1,003-6 TDs rushing, 52438-2 TDs receiving) missed three games with a high ankle sprain that left him diminished.
Even at his best, Barkley could not impact the won-lost record in a quarterback-driven league.
He never had a chance to, even before his legs began betraying him, and so he will carry a ghastly 19-45 record into Sunday’s regular-season finale against Washington.
Gettleman’s failure to fix the offensive line devalued Barkley ... and Jones as well. It is highly questionable whether the great Jim Brown could have affected the won-lost record behind these Giants offensive lines. A decisive victory for the “Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson never won a Super Bowl” mob.
The last thing the new GM should do is entertain the idea of trading Captain Barkley, especially with his value at its lowest. Barkley will be playing on the last year of his rookie contract for $7.217 million in 2022. He will be highly motivated to stay on the field and prove that he deserves that big-ticket extension.
“For any player coming off of an injury, the following season of having an offseason without that rehab process is very beneficial,” Joe Judge said.
The Giants currently own the fifth and eighth picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. If the new GM opts to use one — or even both of them — on offensive linemen and is proven right, a healthy and driven Saquon Barkley would have a fighting chance to be reborn in a second New York Giants life. A second act. For something no one would call a clown show organization. Root for that.