Irvin: RB can make Big Blue contender

ARLINGTON, Texas — If the Giants want to win now, their choice with the No. 2 pick in Thursday’s NFL draft should be an easy one, according to Michael Irvin.

“If I’m going to go with Eli [Manning], and we’re trying to make that run, I don’t know how you let that kid [Saquon] Barkley get away,” Irvin said Wednesday at AT&T Stadium. “Especially [when] that’s a place of need for you. To get that kind of talent in that position, I just don’t see how you let him go.”

Irvin, the Hall of Fame Cowboys wide receiver and current NFL Network analyst, said the Giants’ pick will send a message to the players in the locker room.

“Are we now or are we tomorrow?” Irvin said. “You don’t believe it’s going to happen now if you get that quarterback. You get Barkley, oh yeah, we’re gearing up to try to get to the Super Bowl right now.”

Irvin called a franchise quarterback “the toughest thing in this business to predict.” The Giants could have their choice of Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield or Josh Rosen — depending on whom the Browns take at No. 1.

Though the 37-year-old Manning is nearing the end of his career, Irvin said he believes the Giants still could make one last run at a Super Bowl if they give him some help at running back.

“No doubt, Eli can win you a Super Bowl. He’s shown you that, regardless of how you think he may have played last year or the year before that,” Irvin said. “It’s not about accumulation of plays that ultimately wins you a Super Bowl. It’s: Did you make that play that you needed to make in that crucial moment to win that Super Bowl? And Eli has mastered that.”

As far as the idea the Giants must get a QB at No. 2 because they could pick up a suitable running back in later rounds, Irvin said this one is different.

“I hear people say, ‘You can get a quarterback and you [can] find a pretty good running back in the other rounds,’ ” Irvin said. “Pretty good ain’t Saquon Barkley.”