What Barkley does in Philly really shouldn’t matter as the Giants try to build their own team
The biggest, most controversial, most consequential event in Joe Schoen’s three seasons as GM of the New York Giants has been not being able to reach a long-term contract agreement with Saquon Barkley. Ultimately, of course, that led to Barkley being allowed to enter free agency and finding $37.75 million worth of brotherly love from the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Barkley situation hung over the franchise for two offseasons, and will reverberate for years to come.
Current roster: Tyrone Tracy Jr., Devin Singletary, Eric Gray
Players drafted since 2022: Eric Gray (Round 5, No. 172, 2023) | Tyrone Tracy Jr. (Round 5, No. 166, 2024)
Biggest free agent acquisitions: Devin Singletary
Biggest losses: Saquon Barkley
Barkley is having a great season, the best of his career to date. No one should be shocked by that. I don’t believe the Giants are.
Barkley ran for 176 yards on just 17 carries against the Giants in Week 6, mercifully taking the fourth quarter off.
He is averaging a career-best 113.7 yards rushing per game and leads the league through 10 games with 1,137 rushing yards. If he keeps up that pace, he will end up with 1,933 rushing yards and a career-high 2,289 total yards from scrimmage.
Eagles fans were all over social media trolling the Giants after Barkley ran for 146 yards and caught two passes for 52 more, giving him 198 total yards on Thursday as the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders to improve to 8-2.
The view here?
Good for Saquon. He’s a great player and he deserves to shine. He is still as good or better than anyone in the open field, and he is with a team that can get him there and let him do what he does best. Good for Eagles fans. Let them have their fun.
The Barkley-Giants divorce was messy. It probably could have been handled better, by both sides. There were many twists and turns, some we will probably never know in full detail. It probably could have been cleaner. I’m not sure I will ever understand how the two sides could not bridge a gap reported to be no more than $2 million in 2022.
Regardless of the optics, Barkley’s great year and all of that I think this situation turned out the right way. Barkley is in a place where he can be a difference-making, finishing piece on a team with championship aspirations.
The Giants weren’t, and aren’t that. They probably won’t be for a while. No matter the kind of success Barkley has, Schoen and the Giants did the right thing by not spending big money for a back who had shown over six seasons that there was one thing he couldn’t do, that no running back can do.
Turn a bad team into a good one.
Despite his brilliance, the Giants had one winning season in Barkley’s six years. Schoen, who did not draft Barkley, re-prioritized. That was his right, and popular or not, the right decision. It was time to stop trying to build a team around a running back, especially a high-mileage one with an injury history.
The Giants are 2-8. Would they be significantly better with Barkley? Probably not. He almost certainly would not be putting up the numbers for the Giants that he is for the Eagles. Their future wouldn’t look any brighter, either. Without Barkley, an argument can be made that they are better positioned for the future.
Schoen used that money to successfully improve the offensive line.
Schoen and the Giants also leaned into the belief that if you block well you can run the ball without a star running back, and that if you scout well you can find good backs in the middle to late portions of the draft.
The Giants found Tyrone Tracy Jr. in Round 5, the 166th player taken in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Tracy has 545 yards rushing, on pace for 926 yards despite getting only 12 carries during the first four weeks of the season.
Since he took over as the starter six games ago, Tracy has posted three 100+ yard rushing games and averaged 86.0 rushing yards per game. Extended over a full season, that would be third in the NFL in yards per game behind Barkley and Derrick Henry (112.0).
Extend that 86-yards per game average out over a full season, Tracy would be third in the league in rushing yards and on pace for a 1,462-yard season.
Barkley is costing the Eagles $26 million in guaranteed money over the next three seasons. Tracy? He is costing the Giants a total of $4.306 million over four years, only $286,000 of which is guaranteed.
Barkley is doing Barkley things for the Eagles. That’s tough to watch, especially when he does them against the Giants.
The Giants, though, are just fine at running back.
