ESPN's Saquon Barkley prediction has him leaving the Giants but not to a rival

With the news coming in that the NY Giants are not expected to franchise tag Saquon Barkley, it feels quite likely the G-Men will let him walk in free agency. If that ends up happening, then you better believe several teams will be ready to try and ink him to a multi-year deal.

Unfortunately, there's been plenty of worry that the two-time Pro Bowler could end up making his way to either the Dallas Cowboys or Philadelphia Eagles - no one in East Rutherford wants that to happen. Luckily, ESPN came out with its 'best fit' for each top free agent and they like Saquon making his way to Texas, but to suit up for Houston and not Dallas.

ESPN has the Texans as the best free agency fit for Saquon Barkley

"With Devin Singletary hitting the free agent market, the Texans could swing big here to add Barkley as a dual-threat player in Bobby Slowik's offense. Think of Barkley as an underneath outlet for C.J. Stroud, in addition to the rushing volume he would take on. Barkley has averaged 98.8 scrimmage yards over his career with the Giants, and he would bring even more juice to one of the league's most dynamic offenses."

- ESPN's Matt Bowen

The Texans just received an unreal rookie season from first-round pick C.J. Stroud and the front office looks ready to keep adding weapons around him. Enter Barkley? While the veteran RB missed three games last year with an ankle injury, he still rushed for 962 yards and six touchdowns.

Barkley, who posted a career-high 1,312 yards the year before, added four more scores through the air. No one will question how great of a playmaker Barkley is, but the Giants just don't seem too enthusiastic to invest big-time money in him.

The two sides were in the same boat last winter, with the G-Men placing the franchise tag on Barkley and inking Daniel Jones to his $160 million deal. We don't have to tell you that's proven to be a monster mistake. In the coming weeks, we'll find out if Barkley will be back in the NFC East or not, but at this point, him suiting up elsewhere, potentially with the Texans, feels much more likely.