Was Barkley the right pick?
Was Barkley the right pick?
Dave Gettleman, the general manager of the New York football giants describes Saquon as “being touched by the hands of god.” I don’t know if that's true but I’m going to tell you why Giants made the right selection taking Saquon with the number two overall pick.
Saquon Barkley was second in the league in rushing behind the 29th ranked run blocking unit according to football outsiders. Barkley was just behind Ezekiel Elliott who had the 8th ranked run blocking unit. The year that this generational talent had was like no other. He sparked the offense when Beckham was sidelined with an injury for the latter half of the year having huge games running all over Washington and making key plays to win that bears game. A pro bowl appearance and an all-pro snub some would say is set to have an even bigger second season than his first. The giants picked second which means they didn’t even have a shot to get the best quarterback in the draft class in Baker Mayfield. Josh Allen has shown inconsistencies and accuracy issues in his first year in Buffalo. Josh Rosen led his team to the number 1 pick of the draft and firing in his coach after one year. Sam Darnold had an average year with the Jets but should mature in his second season with Adam Gase and a couple more weapons but how much better is he than the options the Giants have now? You can make a case that Dwayne Haskins is as good of a prospect as Darnold and the Giants are going to have a shot to get him in the draft and pair him up with Barkley, Beckham, Shepard, and Engram. The Giants had tons of holes to fill that wasn’t the QB so to wait one more year was not a big deal. Now, by the time Eli’s successor is ready to play, he will have a real roster assembled by Dave Gettleman that will give him some cushion for failure if he is not an instant success. Saquon makes any quarterback play better just like Beckham does and to have two of those guys can make all the difference when a young QB first starts out.
Saquon game makes everyone around him better the line looks the best it has looked in years cause of 26. Dak Prescott had led the Cowboys to 2 playoff appearances in his three years and the one he missed their best player was suspended for 6 games that season. If the giants can find a guy like Dak who is smart with the football tough and can run Shurmur offense they can finally compete again. If the Giants had drafted Darnold they would be calling for Gettleman's head right now cause he would’ve struggled horribly as the offensive line went through massive changes the whole year. They changed centers three times couldn’t find anyone that could actually play right tackle and had problems at right guard till Jamon Brown was picked up off waivers. Also, Sam would’ve been without Beckham for a extended period of time which would have hurt him. If they find their successor this year which I think they will the Saquon pick will go down as the right call. If the Giants really liked Darnold he would be in blue instead of green. Shurmur must have thought he wasn’t the guy to fit their system. Barkley and Beckham will make most quarterbacks look as good and probably better than Darnold. If the Giants can rebuild their defense, which already has some good young pieces on it, and draft a quarterback capable of handling the New York spotlight and running Pat Shurmur’s offense they can compete sooner than you would think.
- By: Sam Kirk