Plain & simple: G-Men, Barkley no longer a fit
LOOK, if we want, we can start taking sides on this, start slapping blame and anger around like extra coats of paint on a shed just because it makes us feel better to establish villains, snarl at them, and then crush them.
It’s harder to believe that multiple truths can exist in the same realm. For instance:
Dave Gettleman made a serious miscalculation taking Saquon Barkley with the second pick in the 2018 draft — TRUTH.
Barkley was a marvel to watch when he was healthy, capable of scoring from any place on the field, capable of helping you in all manner of ways to solve a defense — TRUTH.
Barkley got hurt. A lot. — TRUTH
The Giants valued him as a player and as a person. But not at $26 million guaranteed and as much as $46.75M, not when they have a roster still rife with holes that desperately need to be plugged.
The Eagles, dying to change the narrative of a miserable end to their season, thought that was precisely what Barkley was worth. To them.
It really is that simple. No bogeymen here. No malfeasance. Barkley is no disloyal swine, engaging with the Giants’ blood enemy, any more so than the Giants are coldblooded incompetents for not handing the store over to one of the most electrifying players who’s ever worn the blue vestments.
(And for that segment of Giantsdom that likes to blame John Mara for everything short of snow flurries in spring, and who will decry that Wellington Mara would’ve been more loyal … well, a reminder: The old man could’ve stopped Sam Huff from being shipped out to Washington back in the day. And didn’t.)
Does it hurt a little extra that it’s the Eagles? Of course it does. Army hates losing in anything to Navy. The Corleones had ways of dealing with guys who were recruited to the Tattaglias. Sports is visceral, and geography is visceral, and the marriage of the two can get a little carried away sometimes.
But when you allow yourself to think clearly on the matter, it boils down to this:
The Giants wanted to keep Barkley. But not at his price.
Barkley wanted to stay a Giant. But not at their price.
And so he is an Eagle. There are all those quotes from Gettleman from the moment he drafted Barkley that were silly in real time and even more ridiculous in retrospect, about the hand of God and all that, but the one that’s most relevant on this day is this:
“We really have to picture this guy putting on a gold jacket.”
Ask yourself this: At this moment, right now, has Barkley been a gold-jacket guy? Surely, he has had many gold-jacket moments. But that doesn’t punch a ticket to Canton. And so far, it has yielded only two playoff games in six years. He’s been hurt, a lot. He’s had just as many games when he was clearly playing his way back into form as he’s had games when actually in top form.
Now, this isn’t all his fault, of course. He’s had to work behind a string of offensive lines ranging from awful to atrocious. Despite this, he’s had two seasons — as a rookie in 2018 and again in 2022 — which stand with any from a Giants running back — name them, Gifford and Tiki and Rote, Joe Morris and Joe Morrison, all of them — have ever had.
But there is no faster path to futility in sports than leading with your heart. We talked about truths before? Here’s one: Running backs aren’t valued nearly as much as they used to be. And the fact that Xavier McKinney signed a deal with the Packers that dwarfs Barkley’s with the Eagles shows you the prevailing wisdom in the league — and also probably is a reminder that Barkley was only the Giants’ second-biggest loss of the day.
In a perfect world? Barkley would’ve made every one of his carries in pro football as a Giant. But pro football doesn’t belong to that world. Little is perfect, or remotely fair, about NFL business. Remember what we said earlier about multiple truths? Here’s two more:
Barkley may well wind up earning that gold jacket after all, running free behind a better line in Philadelphia the next few years than he would East Rutherford.
And the Giants will still be better off if they redistribute his money properly.
It’s on Joe Schoen to make that so.