HBO Max premiered Hard Knocks and now everyone can't stop talking about the first episode. As a lot of us expected, former NY Giants running back Saquon Barkley was featured from the start. Everyone has been waiting on answers for how things went down.
One thing was made clear from Episode 1 - Joe Schoen underestimated Barkley's value on free agency. On top of that, the show is already making it seem like the third-year general manager was never that high on the idea of bringing him back in the first place. His initial conversation with John Mara surely opened the door to let him walk:
Ya John Mara really didn’t want to let Saquon go pic.twitter.com/9JC3EEwDYL
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) July 3, 2024
Giants owner John Mara was hoping Saquon Barkley would be back with the team
In that clip, Mara said, "In a perfect world I'd still like to have him back." Schoen wasn't having it. Instead, he made it clear he wanted to invest in the offensive line to protect Daniel Jones. Schoen and the front office want to figure out if Jones is the guy or not.
The Giants signed both Jon Runyan Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor to help improve things up front, while Carmen Bricillo has been hired as the new offensive line coach. The new-look OL should finally be able to do the job for Jones, though there's still worry about Evan Neal and if he can take a positive step forward.
#Giants exec Tim McDonnell on possibly losing Saquon Barkley:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 3, 2024
“We lose Saquon, what’s our identity gonna be?”
GM Joe Schoen: “We’ve gotta upgrade the offensive line, and you’re paying Daniel Jones $40M. It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12M back.”pic.twitter.com/8XLdhpgM8K https://t.co/GbufUeZZWV
As for Barkley, the Giants were never going to tag him and they had several RBs in mind to replace him. The team ended up signing running back Devin Singletary, a player Schoen was quite high on. Others mentioned included Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard, D'Andre Swift and Zack Moss.
Schoen adding that the previous Saquon negotiations took 10 years off his life was something else that stood out to us. Clearly he wasn't a fan of trying to make it work with No. 26, as things on both sides were never easy. Now, Barkley is with the Eagles, while Schoen and Co. are getting ready for life without the two-time Pro Bowler.