NY Giants are going to need more games like that from Saquon Barkley in 2022

Saquon Barkley had his strongest performance of the season, on an afternoon that the NY Giants’ offense wasn’t even functional against the Chicago Bears 

In every loss, there are always a few bright spots, and Saquon Barkley was one of them for the NY Giants Sunday against the Bears.

The Giants took an embarrassing defeat to the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field by a score of 29-3, but Barkley had a solid outing.

The former second overall selection showed more flashes than usual of his pre-injury self against the team he suffered his unfortunate injury against. This was his best performance of the season statistically, as he finished with 102 yards on the ground.

The NY Giants even experimented with some wildcat plays to Barkley, and that showed just how much this team trusts him to make plays in the backfield. These also allowed him to display that he might be slowly regaining some of that explosiveness he had before.

New York leaned heavily on their rushing attack in this matchup considering the weakness of their passing game led by Mike Glennon.

Glennon only threw 11 passes for an abysmal 24-yard outing as the Giants stymied themselves in the passing game all afternoon.

This led to 39 total carries split between backup running back Devontae Booker and Barkley, but the Penn State alumnus showed that he is the much more talented player.

Of those carries, 21 went to Barkley, and he averaged just under five yards per carry at the conclusion of the afternoon.

This season is a bit of a wash for the NY Giants, so to look to 2022, Barkley will be a major asset for this team going forward.

While trade rumors will float around as he enters the final year of his rookie deal, the expectation is that he plays for the team next season.

Barkley should be better than he was this season for the Giants after a full year of recovery from his knee injury. The expectations heading into this season may have been a bit too much, but next season he needs to perform if he wants a large contract.

The skills and talents are all there for the freak of nature that is Barkley, the Giants have to be able to utilize him properly going forward.

Those wildcat plays could be a sign of things to come, especially if the passing game does not see improvement.

Whether Daniel Jones will be the main man behind center will be seen come NFL Draft time, but no matter who the quarterback is changes need to happen.

This offseason will be huge for the Giants, and putting a supporting cast put around their most talented player on the roster should be the main focus.

Barkley will still be the workhorse back in 2022, but time will tell if the Giants are able to use him to his best potential in the future.