Booster club
Barber: Barkley will be big help for Eli
Saquon Barkley doesn’t have to carry all of the Giants’ hopes and dreams on his broad shoulders, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be heaped on him anyway.
That’s what comes with being the No. 2 pick, and though Barkley only took four carries in the preseason, the rookie running back has no time to waste in getting back up to speed starting Sunday in the season opener against the Jaguars.
“It’s hard to be the man right away, but he is the man right away,” Tiki Barber, the Giants’ all-time leading rusher, told The Post in a phone interview Wednesday. “Luckily there is a lot of support around him with Odell [Beckham Jr.] and Sterling Shepard in the receiving corps and obviously Eli [Manning]. ... I think the speed of the game is what you have to get used to from the college level. He’s seen it, but he hasn’t fully seen it. So there may be a little bit of a slow adjustment, but I have full faith in him.”
Perhaps one of Barkley’s biggest responsibilities this fall will be getting Manning back on track. Barber said his former teammate thrives when he gets help from his run game.
Manning may also get a boost from the play-calling of coach Pat Shurmur, whose offensive versatility “has been sorely missed,” Barber said.
“Eli’s always been best when there’s been an accompanying running game, when he can get to the play-action and not have to be in the shotgun and worry about guys breathing down his neck in two or three seconds,” Barber said. “Just the versatility in the offense will change the team’s fortunes but also his fortunes. ... I think getting back to a run game first and playing some ‘old school’ Giant football is a good thing for not only the team, but Eli as well.”
Barber will get a firsthand view of the new-look Giants on Sunday as he handles sideline duties for Fox at MetLife Stadium with his brother Ronde and Kenny Albert in the booth. He will then head to Pilsener Haus & Biergarten in Hoboken for DraftKings’ Week 1 Kickoff Bash to watch the rest of the day’s slate and celebrate DraftKings’ new sportsbook with fans, Brandon Jacobs, Nick Mangold and Mike Francesa. The event, in partnership with Barber’s sports media company Thuzio, runs from noon to 8 p.m. with an open bar and a free $10,000 fantasy football contest on DraftKings for attendees. (Tickets are available at www.draftkings.com/kickoffbash).
There will be no lack of football to talk about on Sunday, after the Giants kick off their season and before the Jets get underway Monday night.
All eyes will be on Barkley and fellow rookie Sam Darnold as the two draft picks’ performances will be intertwined while playing in the same city. By nabbing Barkley the Giants passed on Darnold, the potential franchise quarterback whose demeanor Barber says reminds him of a young Manning.
“He understands it’s going to be challenging, but he’s not emotional,” Barber said. “He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low with the successes or the failures and he continually is learning. That’s really all you can expect from a rookie quarterback. Sometimes, especially here in New York with the Jets forever not having had a quarterback, you want to put him on that elite pedestal or put the expectations up there. But he’s not ready for that yet.”