Giants losing compensatory pick for Saquon Barkley is peak GM incompetence

The New York Giants are so bad that even the dysfunction of their crosstown rivals isn't enough to take the spotlight off them. At 2-9, the season is over, all while Saquon Barkley continues to crush it for a 9-2 Philadelphia Eagles team after leaving in free agency.

The Giants spent money this offseason, choosing to let Barkley head to Philadelphia and safety Xavier McKinney join the Green Bay Packers while allocating that salary elsewhere. McKinney leaving has been just as impactful as Barkley, as the All-Pro candidate is leading the NFL in interceptions with seven.

The Giants spent their money on the offensive line, signing Jon Runyan Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor to big contracts, all while replacing Barkley with Devin Singletary and signing Drew Lock to be the team's backup quarterback. That spending spree could come back to haunt Joe Schoen, or whoever is the GM, in the 2025 offseason.

While the Giants will get a fourth-round compensatory draft choice for McKinney, the money they spent on Runyan will nearly equal what Barkley received from the Eagles. As a result, the Giants will not get a fourth-round pick for Barkley and he essentially left the team for nothing. Just brilliant.

Giants won't get compensatory pick for Saquon Barkley due to FA spending

While the Giants did manage to stumble backward into a solid running back by selecting Purdue stud Tyrone Tracy Jr. in the fifth round, he has recently developed a problem with fumbling the ball. Even on his best day, Tracy is nowhere close to Barkley at this point in time.

The Giants did improve the offensive line, but they did so in service of a quarterback in Daniel Jones who clearly was not good enough to elevate this team and a coach in Brian Daboll who is losing his grip on the job. With each passing game, 2022 appears to be more of a fluke season.

It would be bad enough if Barkley went to the Eagles and was a solid player. Not only has he been good, he's been historically effective. He is on pace to break the single-season record for rushing yards in a season (Eric Dickerson's 2,105 in 1984) and scrimmage yards in a season (Chris Johnson's 2,509 in 2009).

For all their troubles, the Giants came out of this mess with a solid defensive line, one great wide receiver in Malik Nabers, and a half-decent offensive line. Barkley and McKinney, meanwhile, look like Walter Payton and Ed Reed with their new teams, both of which will contend for a Super Bowl.