Saquon Barkley‘s ACL tear occurred Sept. 20, 2020, but the Pro Bowl running back did not undergo surgery until late October. The Giants believe Barkley is progressing on schedule, but it will still be a bit before he returns to full work.
Barkley, who also suffered MCL and meniscus damage on that play in Chicago, is not expected to participate fully in Giants practices at the start of training camp, Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com notes. The Giants have been busy stocking their backfield this offseason, adding a host of Barkley backups through various acquisition varieties. That Devontae Booker-led contingent should be called on often come camp.
Despite Barkley having resumed sprinting and jumping, his team will play it safe. He may be given the green light for regular work near the end of camp, but Raanan adds the Giants plan to hold Barkley back a bit — usage-wise — to start the season. The Giants playing the long game with their dynamic back makes sense, with the 24-year-old talent also having suffered a notable injury — a high ankle sprain — in 2019 and with the first 17-game season approaching.
The Giants picked up Barkley’s fifth-year option and are eyeing a long-term future with the former No. 2 overall pick. That may mean Booker and whoever else makes the team behind Barkley seeing more time early this season. New York gave Booker a two-year, $6MM deal and then added Corey Clement in free agency and claimed Ryquell Armstead off waivers from the Jaguars. The Giants also drafted Gary Brightwell in the sixth round. This will be a new crew of Barkley backups, and they may be busier than expected in September.
What a waste of a number 2 pick. He will never be around or have anything left when they are able to compete.
This is what happens when teams fall behind investing in analytics. Barkley, Daniel Jones, and Andrew Thomas were each over drafted. Giants could have accumulated draft capital by trading back and still drafted these players or they could have held their ground and drafted superior players like Quentin Nelson or Josh Allen. Next their old school GM will compound the error of these decisions by signing them to long term deals, destroying their salary cap for years to come. A banged up rb who can’t stay on the field, an error prone mid to lower tier qb, and an underwhelming ot.
Wow, so much wrong here, I won’t even bother….in order to trade down you need a trading partner who will give you better value for trading down, then they are getting for trading up…..and by the way Josh Allen was terrible in his first year, good in his second, and really good year 3 but as a running QB….lets just see how long he lasts….remember RG lll was all the rage until that 1 play!
He’s not talking QB Josh Allen. He means pash rusher Josh Allen who had 10 sacks in his rookie year the Jags took right Daniel Jones after at #7. He is right, If they stood pat and took Quentin Nelson in 2018) who will wear the gold jacket), and edge rusher Josh Allen in 2019 they would have an anchor on each side of the line for years to come. Jones could have been had later, and if not then could have taken Herbert the next year at #4 instead of Thomas. Not to mention in 2018 had the Giants took Nelson, Cleveland would have taken Barkley at 4, so the giants would have had the opportunity at Nick Chubb instead of Will Hernandez in the early 2nd round. Gettleman has been very hit and miss overall with his moves, but his early round picks have been awful.
As Rocky 7 said, wow so much one here. First off he was talking about the QB Josh Allen, as for not taking Jones at #6 overall and waiting to take him with their later pick, Washington has come out and said they were going to take Jones with their #10 pick. Instead they ended up with Haskins. As for taking Over drafting Thomas, he was considered by most to be the 1 or 1A OT on the board and the need was for a LT. Plus he ended up playing on a bad ankle that required surgery for most of the season as well as having a OL coach that was not teaching him techniques, which is why after he was fired Thomas play improved dramatically.
It’s easy to second guess after the fact, which is why we could go back and say how could 31 teams pass on Tom Brady until the 6th round? Or why wasn’t Mahomes taken first overall?
It’s easy to second guess sure and we can do that with anyone. But since 2018 the majority of his early round picks have not worked out regardless of how they were touted. The only one so far is thats been good is sexy Dexy. The others so far have not. The jury is still out on the others and I’m pulling for them but Ned to see better results.
*need to see
Nelson is not superior to Barkley – and NO ONE drafts a guard at #2. The former’s job is to block – period – while Sequon has created huge excitement in both the run and receiving game. I, for one, like excitement on my team vs. watching other teams practice it
This is all just wrong. Nelson is elite, period. No one drafts a running back at #2 either, but the Giants did. I’m definitely not denying Barkley’s talent, but the Browns got Chubb 30+ picks later and he’s just as good or better. Excitement on your team is fine, but winning is better.
Emmitt Smith was drafted by Dallas #1…did you forgot or just not informed when you crow “nobody drafts a running back #”1?
And before you say wow….Emmitt Smith was a horse from the get go, no, his first year was good not great and he had a hell of a Dallas O-Line blocking for him…..dramatically different than the O-Line that Barkley had or even has…….and Chubb is good but certainly not great….only time will tell how any comparison works out.
By the way, I ran out of time to edit but how about Elliottt by the Cowboys, Bo Jackson and a long list of running backs taken with their teams #1 draft choice inside of the first 5 picks in the overall draft.
So when you pick on the Giants, just remember that if they passed on Barkley, or traded down, there would have been just as many fans disappointed and/or the player they took might have ended up having their 5th year options not picked up due to lack of production.
Next year, should Gettleman call you and ask who he should pick #1?
Lol why are you so upset? I’m sure I could go and dig through history to find a guard drafted in the top 2, but the point is that running backs are not valued enough to draft that highly anymore. If Emmitt Smith was drafted #2 overall a few years ago, then you might have a point but that was a different era and he wasn’t even drafted that high anyway — just in the first round. Drafting a running back in the first round is perfectly fine to me (especially because of the 5th year option), but they just don’t have enough value to be a top 2 pick in this era. Even a Hall of Fame running back can’t singlehandedly take a team from good to great. Barkley is one of the most physically gifted running backs in the game, and the closest the Giants have come to contending with him was last year when he was injured for several games anyway. You also mention the Giants’ line not comparing to what Emmitt Smith had in Dallas, but that’s exactly why Nelson would have been a smarter pick for them.
They could have had literally any player in the class other than Baker Mayfield with that pick, and instead they took a running back.
Emmitt Smith was drafted in the first round, but at #17, not #1 or #2. There’s a big difference.
And don’t forget about Calvin Hill (Yale) who turned out ok, and Tony Dorsett, (rd 1, pick2)
Yes, but different era. Running game was more heavily relied on, while now its a passing league. Also the above mentioned Emmitt Smith, but I’m pretty sure the Cowboys had acquired about 25 picks from the Vikings for Herschel Walker. So they could take who they wanted and continue to build. The 2018 Giants were not in that position. They were a bad team with limited draft capital and needed to build a foundation. Quentin Nelson is already a multi time pro bowler and all-pro. Barring a major injury he will wear the gold jacket as Gettleman likes to say early 1st round picks should do or become.
It’s a bit early to say that the pick was wasted. Barkley, when he played, carried a HUGE load for that offense. We could argue that a running back at 2 isn’t the best choice, but he did add that amount of value to the offense when he did play. The missed time and possible opportunity cost is the counter argument, to which time will have to be the ultimate judge. If, say, Barkley comes back this year and leads the Giants (or contributes significantly) to a division title and/or playoff run, that will paint a very different view of his selection. It doesn’t matter so much the position the player plays as it does the final value. It probably is less likely that you’ll get significant years from a back like you would a quarterback, but if the value is enough for that time to make it worth it, it really doesn’t matter what position the pick plays.
I can say for certain that Booker will not bring enough production to push Barkley’s production in any scenario other than injury. There’s a clear difference between Devontae Booker (who is certainly not a starting caliber back) and Barkley, or even a lower profile back like, say, Austin Ekeler. Remember though that Booker himself was a second round pick. So the idea that you can just pluck a back from thin air is misguided. As we know, the value of players varies from draft to draft. There’s not an “absolute” value on a running back at a certain pick position, just his value relative to what you’d get by picking someone else. And if you need a running back, and there’s a generational back available at two, you can’t completely eliminate the possibility of taking him and hope that someone serviceable is available on Day Two or Three. You might end up with a Devontae Booker. There does need to be some level of value assigned to that position, first round or not.
I can go along with that but being the Giants were not in position to win and Getty playing both cards (rebuild and win now) just wasn’t the right formula. The majority of RB’s have a short career and in 2018 they had chances to draft a real building piece for the long term.
That’s true, but I can’t knock Gettleman for Barkley’s selection just yet because I don’t know what the alternative pick would have been at that time with that information. If you pick a back at 2 that ends up being the best back of the decade, it’d be a good pick. At the time, Barkley looked like he might be that type. I wasn’t as bought in as many others, but I understood the potential, and if the Giants agreed then I can’t knock them. If their offensive line was better, maybe Barkley could have developed into that player faster. Maybe not, of course, but there was at least significant opinion that he could have been, and the Giants acted on it at a position they needed. I would say that they much more certainly have other picks are more obviously open to criticism, some of which could have alleviated the Barkley situation (like, for instance, taking a quality offensive lineman or trading down for one in lieu of the Baker selection) and I’d look at those first.
I think Gettleman has had a mixture of success and failure overall as GM in NYG, and the situation right now is really dependent on how this season goes. Ultimately, this will be the deciding year for his biggest moves-Barkley and Jones both. As of now, though, there are more clear failures or successes that we definitely put on a finger on with Gettleman, so I’d leave the judgement on Barkley out until this year ends.
Lol. All the obvious cowgirl fans scrappin and clawin.