Thought to be expendable and replaceable in New York, Saquon Barkley is now living the NFL good life in Philadelphia.
Who has it better than Saquon Barkley right now? You can say Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but I can make a case Barkley has it better than him right now. The Giants foolishly let Barkley sign as a free agent with hated rival Philadelphia Eagles. Presumably, Saquon was not worth the money he sought and was not a good fit for the Giants offense.
The Giants sure showed Barkley, didn’t they? Barkley moved on to bigger and better things. The Giants? Hopeless is the word that comes to mind.
After six nondescript seasons with the Giants, Barkley will celebrate his 28th birthday on Sunday by playing in the Super Bowl. Maybe he can celebrate a Super Bowl championship and a Super Bowl MVP for his birthday present, followed by a trip to Disney World the next day. Oh, he is also engaged to his girlfriend, Anna Congdon.
There’s no doubt Barkley is a big reason the Eagles are in the Super Bowl.
He became the eighth member of the 2,000-yard rushing club in a single season this season, was only 101 yards from breaking Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105 rushing yards set in 1984, and finished the regular season by rushing for 2,005 yards with 13 touchdowns. Barkley continued that productivity in the postseason, amassing 442 yards in three playoff victories, becoming the first player to ever have three touchdown runs in the postseason of 60 or more yards. In addition to his accomplishments this season, on Sunday, Barkley should break Terrell Davis’ single-season records for rushing yards and yards from scrimmage (regular season and playoffs combined).
You can make a case that he should have been the MVP, but we all know quarterbacks win the award yearly, which happened again this year. Saquon finished third.
Seeing how well Barkley has done in Philadelphia makes me wonder why the Giants failed him. Then again, if you listen to some in the NY media, the narrative is about how Barkley failed the Giants. How ludicrous! Furthermore, how can you be mad at him leaving NY to play for the Eagles? The truth is that Schoen did not believe in paying running backs, and Daboll never focused on running the ball. So, blaming Barkley for leaving the Giants is wrong and ignorant.
If you want to point fingers, then GM Dave Gettleman should never have drafted Barkley. Even though Saquon was a terrific player coming out of Penn State, the Giants were not a running back away from being a great team. They should have drafted an offensive lineman or traded the No. 2 pick to get more picks. Then, the team compounded the problem by not trading Barkley last season, even when the team had no intention of bringing him back. So, instead of getting value in return for him, Barkley left as a free agent.
The irony is that you can bet there are bobos in the media and fan base who will root against Barkley this Sunday. The big problem is that rooting against Saquon does nothing to improve the Giants’ stock. Big Blue has been a loser for 14 years, and given the current brain trust, does anybody want to bet things will change soon?
