Barkley sees potential in Browns
Not that Saquon Barkley has a say in the matter, but he wasn’t shy about the possibility of ending up in Cleveland, even with the Browns coming off of two historic years of losing.
“That’d be awesome,” Barkley said Thursday at the NFL combine. “Something bigger than you.”
“If you go to a team like that, obviously, they’ve had some rough years,” Barkley said, “but I think they’re just a couple of pieces away. They do have a lot of young talent. They’ve brought in a new offensive coordinator. They only won one game, but they were in a lot of games.”
Barkley is considered by most the best running back in this class. Even if the Browns opt to take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick, they could have a decision to make on Barkley three picks later.
“I think this is a really good draft for running backs,” Brown general manager John Dorsey said. “I think there’s some very talented running backs in this thing, and that’s not to say whoever the first running back (that) is taken can’t be a franchise difference-maker.”
Browns coach Hue Jackson said something similar on Wednesday morning.
“I think the running back class is strong, obviously, spearheaded by Barkley,” Jackson said. “But at the same time, there’s a lot of other really good players in this draft that are running backs.”
Barkley averaged nearly 6 yards a carry as a junior at Penn State, rushing for 1,271 yards and 18 touchdowns and catching 54 passes for 632 yards and three TDs. He also completed two passes — one for a score — and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.
He won the Paul Hornung Award as college football’s most versatile player and left Penn State after his junior year just 89 yards shy of the program rushing record with 3,843 yards.
Dorsey also said he would be willing to make a deal for the top pick in this year’s NFL draft.
“There are a lot of things we can do at No. 1 and not just get a quarterback,” Dorsey said. “If someone wants to come up and make a trade, I’d make a trade, too. Just give me a call and see what’s up.”