THE FREAK SHOP
Drafting a quarterback over Saquon Barkley would be like taking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, which the Portland Trail Blazers regrettably did in the 1984 NBA Draft. So says Bert Whigham, Barkley’s trainer down at Tom Shaw Performance in Orlando, Fla., inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.
“How can you draft Eli Manning’s backup when you have a future Hall of Fame running back right there?” Whigham, 31, told the Daily News on the phone this past week of the Penn State back. “The same thing goes for the Jets: I promise you he will punish you if you pass on him. I don’t see how you can miss on him.
“There is no flaw with Saquon,” Whigham added. “I feel like teams think he’s a unicorn or a ghost.”
More appropriately, here’s Whigham’s best football analogy: when he watched client and Buffalo DE/LB Khalil Mack fall to sixth overall in the 2014 NFL Draft — knowing Mack was an absolute freak worthy of going No. 1 overall — he knew all five teams ahead of the Oakland Raiders would suffer the consequences.
“The only person I can think of that’s comparable physically is Khalil Mack,” says Whigham, who has trained plenty of studs, including Raiders DE Bruce Irvin, Chiefs DE Justin Houston and Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey. “Khalil and Saquon are my 1a. and 1b. These two guys are outliers. They’re freaks. It’s those two and then probably (Titans RB) Derrick Henry, another freak. But with Khalil, we knew he was the No. 1 overall pick. We knew he was going to be special. And it’s the same with Saquon. You’ve got a generational talent.”
Specifically, what Whigham is trying to stress is how gifted and unique Barkley is physically, and how hard he works.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, Whigham broke down the qualities that make the Penn State running back stand out. He shared photos of Mack’s shredded body from their 2014 draft training to demonstrate the elite company in which he places Barkley. And he shared exclusive videos with the News of Barkley running his 40yard dash in Orlando and pushing himself in their diligent work leading up to the draft’s first round on April 26.
But Whigham’s point is also that in his experience, this next level type of talent translates on the pro football field.
Take Mack, for example: Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (Texans), OT Greg Robinson (Rams), QB Blake Bortles (Jaguars) and Sammy Watkins (Buffalo Bills) went ahead of Mack in the 2014 draft. In four years, Mack (40.5 sacks, 231 tackles) has not missed a game, is a two-time first team AllPro and the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. And in 2015 he became the first NFL player ever to be first-team All-Pro at two positions: D-end and outside linebacker.
“And Saquon could be the second,” Whigham says. “You can quote me on that. Teams probably put him back there, but he could be first-team All-Pro at both running back and kick returner.”
What makes Whigham say that? Well, remember when Barkley turned in maybe the best NFL Combine performance of all-time this spring — a 4.4 40-yard dash, 29 reps of a 225-pound bench press, 41-inch vertical, all at 6-feet tall, 233 pounds — but later told NFL Network at Penn State’s Pro Day: “They weren’t my best”? Barkley wasn’t kidding. “He’s run faster times,” Whigham said of the 40. “We were in at 4.28, 4.36 electric two weeks before. So when he sees a 4.4, he doesn’t like the results.”
The fastest 40-yard dash ever at the NFL Combine was receiver John Ross’ 4.22 in 2017 coming out of the University of Washington before the Bengals drafted him ninth overall. Ross did that at 5-11, 188 pounds; Barkley is challenging that at 233 pounds.
“He has the ability to break tackles and stop on a dime,” he said. “He’s so strong and explosive he can stop and accelerate like he’s 180 pounds but he’s 233, he benches like 450 pounds and he cleaned 405 in college.”
Whigham points to one of Barkley’s runs on Sept. 23, 2017, at Iowa, as an example of how Barkley’s uncanny leg strength and abilities just don’t make sense. Barkley, who went for 305 yards from scrimmage and a TD on the Hawkeyes, veers toward the left sideline and, with a defensive back grabbing his right ankle in stride, stops and plants his left foot and fires back to full speed past another defender up field for 44 yards.
“That Iowa play is something very few people have ever been able to do, and no one at his size,” Whigham said.
Whigham, a former pro Arena and European football player himself who played both offense and defense at Illinois State, also sees the mental toughness in Barkley of another recent “freak” client: Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.
“I’m gonna compare Saquon physically to a Mack and mentally to a Dak as far as work ethic,” Whigham said. “Dak showed what a true leader was. He was always in competition with himself. Saquon’s that way. When we had Dak going into the summer of his rookie year, he was 230 pounds and ripped up. He just showed he was working and focused and had the discipline to withstand an NFL season.”
Similarly, Whigham watched Prescott fall to the fourth round (135th) overall before the Cowboys took him. Months earlier, in fact, when the Cowboys were working out Paxton Lynch, Whigham said: “I’m standing on the sidelines telling the Cowboys you’ve got the wrong guy. I told the Cowboys Dak and (running back) Derrick Henry were elite.
“There’s guys in this draft like that but there’s no one like Saquon,” Whigham added. “His legs are built like a powerlifter, but he’s one of the faster guys in league. Saquon makes the hard choices. You can see that in his body. You look at his body and say, ‘I’ve never seen a person like this before.’”
Barkley has been bullish about his draft preparation, too. He started in Orlando a day after Penn State’s Dec. 30 Fiesta Bowl win over Washington and worked almost straight through the combine in late February/early March, even turning down some Super Bowl marketing opportunities to train.
“For Saquon, it’s about football,” Whigham said. “It’s not about going out all the time and the parties. He’s about football. That’s his life. That’s who he is.”
Barkley has had some out-of-town business, including a celebratory Saquon Barkley Day at Penn State on March 14, the Nittany Lions’ Pro Day on March 21, and a recent West Coast taping of a special ESPN Quarterback-to-Running Back feature with Seahawks QB Russell Wilson filling in for new Raiders coach Jon Gruden at the QB camp.
And Barkley at one point while in Los Angeles doing media also worked out with Odell Beckham Jr.’s trainer, Jamal Liggin. But he’s mostly at Tom Shaw Performance, which had 14 players drafted last year alone, five in the first two rounds, including Giants DT Dalvin Tomlinson. Giants DB Janoris Jenkins even now is rehabbing his ankle there. So will Barkley be a Giant? “Eli wants to help New York win again,” Whigham said. “How can you not give him this running back?”
With “winning now” being new GM Dave Gettleman’s priority, Whigham asks a good question.