5 options for the NY Giants to replace the injured Saquon Barkley

The NY Giants’ season was already going bad enough and that was before Saquon Barkley went down with a serious injury. Here are five potential replacements for the superstar runningback.

Another year, another 0-2 start for the NY Giants. Just like last year, Big Blue is going to again be tasked with finding a replacement for the best player on their team in 2018 #2 overall pick Saquon Barkley.

The Giants’ biggest problem is that their roster lacks many – if any – players that opposing teams truly fear outside of Saquon Barkley and the offense now figures to take a major hit as their best player looks to have suffered a very serious injury.

According to ESPN, it is believed that Saquon Barkley went down with a torn ACL that will in all likelihood sideline the former Penn State stud for the remainder of the 2020 season. Tests will be done Monday to determine the severity of the injury, but just judging by what it looked like and Barkley’s reaction it’s safe to assume he won’t be playing any more football this season.

Via Don Kleiman on Twitter:

Last season, Saquon Barkley went down with a nasty ankle injury during the third game of the season and was initially thought to miss a significant amount of time. Barkley showed off his superhuman abilities by defying the odds and only missing three games for an injury that would have sidelined most players for much longer, but if he did in fact suffer a torn ACL he’s going to need surgery that’s going to end his season.

There is a chance that he tore something other than an ACL, or that he didn’t tear anything at all, but the fact remains that the NY Giants are going to have to find a replacement for the runningback ASAP.

Luckily, GM Dave Gettleman went out and inked veteran Dion Lewis to a team-friendly contract this offseason so they aren’t totally barren at the position but there is no way the 5’8” ‘back can carry the load for an entire season.

More of a scatback, Big Blue is going to need to find a veteran runningback that complements the smaller Lewis that is able to help move the chains and pick up yards in between the tackles.

The Giants do still have fourth-year pro and former fourth-round draft pick Wayne Gallman on the roster, although the fact that he was a healthy scratch during the team’s Week Two game against the Bears speaks volumes to how they feel about the former Clemson standout.

In addition, Gallman was unable to stay healthy when Saquon Barkley went down with that injury in 2019 which can’t inspire much confidence inside the building that he can be the bellcow in 2020 during the last year of his rookie contract.

The good news is that due to NFL teams not placing a premium on the runningback position as a whole these days that there are a number of attractive options on the free-agent market for the NY Giants to take a look at.

Big Blue is currently sitting about $9M under the salary cap, giving the franchise more than enough wiggle room to land a suitable replacement.

While the team is surely not going to give up on Saquon Barkley in any way, its pretty clear that a move simply needs to be made to replace him for at least the 2020 season. Even though the team is 0-2, it is far too early to give up on the season.

Here are five potential options for the NY Giants to sign to replace Saquon Barkley.