Stop comparing NY Giants’ Daniel Jones to Dwayne Haskins

RB Josh Jacobs

Similar to day dreaming of how the offense could be improved with one of those tight ends, I’m left wondering how Josh Jacobs would look in Giants Blue.

To start out, it’s obvious that drafting a running back so soon after getting Saquon Barkley, and before him being injured twice in the next two seasons, is not an easy sell for a GM.

But the NFL is a win-now league. And Cleveland showed this season how having two 1000+ running backs in your offense is even better than having one.

Jacobs was selected with the 24th overall pick in 2019, which means the Giants picked two players before the Raiders, who used their fourth overall pick on DE Clelin Ferrell, selected the Alabama back.

It’s hard to compare the two since Jacobs entered the league; Barkley went down after playing just two games this season. But Jacobs numbers are nearly identical to Barkley’s when compared to each of their first two seasons.

Jacobs will finish this season with one less game played than Barkley finished his first two seasons. And Barkley leads Jacobs in rushing yards, 2310 vs 2126, with one game left this season. But Jacobs already has more carries (500) than Barkley had (478). And they’re tied in touchdowns with 17.

All that being established, we can say both are fantastic backs and any team is lucky enough to have one. But the Giants could have had them both.

We can look to Cleveland for a glimpse at how monstrous this could have been for opposing defensive coordinators.

In 2019, rookie Nick Chubb rushed 298 times for 1494 yards — more than both Jacobs and Barkley had their rookie seasons — and ran in eight touchdowns. Still, Cleveland’s rushing offense was 12th overall in the league.

With Kareem Hunt (who was suspended for the first eight games in 2019) integrated into the offense from the start, Cleveland’s offense is fourth overall in rushing, showing a clear positive in having two dynamic backs.

And it isn’t like they cannibalize each other’s opportunity. Chubb has 176 carries for 959 yards and 11 touchdowns; Hunt has 188 carries for 804 yards and six touchdowns.

Further, when Chubb went down this season with an injury, the Browns had Hunt there to pick up the slack for the four weeks they went without both.

Injuries are probably only going to be an ever-increasing plague in the NFL going forward, with teams rightfully waiting to bring their superstars back instead of risking them play hurt. And unfortunately, it’s hard not to consider if Barkley is injury prone, having missed time twice in three seasons.

If both Jacobs and Barkley were in the backfield, the Giants wouldn’t need to rely on an aging quarterback or an undeveloped younger quarterback. It would be old school Giants ground-and-pound beating up defenses.

As good as Barkley is, it’s not as though his presence alone is enough for the Giants to have a high-powered offense.

Instead, the Giants’ offense currently sits at 31st in the NFL.