Unfortunately for NY Giants running back Saquon Barkley, his offseason has been filled with experts and analysts ripping him to shreds. Despite Barkley impressing during OTAs and minicamp, and sporting a shredded look that countless teammates of his wish they had, people aren’t buying into the Saquon hype.
Go ahead and just pencil this in as motivation for Barkley, who is entering the final year of his contract with the G-Men. While it’s been tough to limit things in this case, we take a look in this piece at the four worst hot takes that have surrounded the NY speedster.
4. Saquon Barkley doesn’t know how to play the position
This summer, ESPN spoke with coaches, players and execs to come away with the top 10 players at each position. For running back, Barkley received some honorable mention love, but one unnamed coach blasted Barkley, saying that he doesn’t know how to play running back and he’s a liability when it comes to blocking. That’s just brutal.
"“I’m down on him — he still doesn’t know how to play running back enough,” the coach told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “He’s a bouncer. He wants every run to be a home run. He’s going to have to learn that 4-yard runs in this league are good, instead of stopping, cutting it back and losing 2. And he gets his ass kicked in protection.”"
That coach didn’t hold back, and Barkley 100 percent must have been furious when he was made aware of this article. Having said that, Barkley could care less about what some unknown coach has to say about him. Instead, the former No. 2 overall pick has been grinding this offseason to make sure he’s at his best for Week 1.
Barkley indeed has some tremendous pressure on him to deliver. He’s quite literally playing for his future, as he’ll need to impress this fall and winter to land himself a nice pay day next offseason. It’s up in the air if that will come from the Giants or not. Regardless, the coach was out of line to call out Barkley in this way.
3. Barkley listed among the Top 5 most overrated NFL players
ESPN’s Chris Canty, who helped the Giants win a Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, came out with his list of the Top 5 most overrated players in the game. Barkley was featured here, which really doesn’t make a ton of sense to us. Barkley is just coming off a disappointing year in 2021.
If anything, people have been writing him off since then. Yes, there’s some excitement around Barkley now that Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka are running the show, but no one has been pushing the notion that he’s going to be in the MVP conversation later this year. All people have been saying is that he should thrive in the new offense, which we agree with.
Barkley was joined on Canty’s board by Dak Prescott, Christian McCaffrey, Khalil Mack and Derwin James. We agree with those other picks, especially Prescott. After the signal-caller signed his massive extension, he was supposed to try and get Dallas back to the Super Bowl thanks to a brilliant ’21.
Prescott and the rest of the offense looked sluggish late in the season, and they totally blew it in the NFC Wild Card Round against Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers. The stadium was packed, with fans in Arlington expecting the Cowboys to move on. Instead, the 49ers pulled off the upset and the Cowboys had to watch the rest of the playoffs at home. Just brutal.
2.Giants should trade Saquon Barkley to the Buccaneers
One of the most head-turning things we saw this offseason were the Barkley trade rumors that kept coming up. While the Giants would certainly entertain the idea of trying to get something in return for him, the fact of the matter is that this offense needs No. 26 out on the field to help out Daniel Jones and Co.
Among the teams mentioned in potential trade talks included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Giants pulling off a trade to try and help Tom Brady? Please, there’s simply no planet where this should ever be the case. Brady is no stranger to the Giants, as New York faced off against him in the Super Bowl twice.
Brady went 0-2 against Eli Manning and the G-Men with the Lombardi Trophy on the line. Now, Giants fans will take every opportunity they can to troll Brady. The absolute last thing they would ever want to see would be the Giants help him in any way. He’s a rival and that’s going to be the case until he retires. Heck, that rivalry will last long beyond his playing days.
1. A Saquon Barkley trade to the Kansas City Chiefs
Lastly, Barkley was also mentioned as a potential trade target for the Kansas City Chiefs. In order for this to happen, the Giants would of course want a draft pick in return, plus someone like Clyde Edwards-Helaire to try and help out Jones. Still, though, Barkley is far too key for the Giants this season.
As we’ve said before, if the Giants were to trade Barkley, they’d essentially be punting on the ’22 campaign. In order for Jones to have a strong year, he needs No. 26 to be at his absolute best. While it feels like it was over a decade ago, Barkley’s 2018 campaign can’t be forgotten. He was a beast on the ground and showcased his skills in the passing game.
He made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and the NY faithful loved every minute of him in action. Things have flipped for him since, but it’s not time to throw in the towel here. Barkley is motivated and all of the negative talk being sent his way is only going to add some more fuel to the fire. A hungry Barkley is the best version of himself and people will wake up soon enough on how good he can be.