It wasn’t on the field where the Giants missed Barkley the most, but off the field
The most controversial, and embarrassing, decision made by the New York Giants during the 2024 offseason was to let star running back Saquon Barkley test free agency — where he found an offer from the rival Philadelphia Eagles that he couldn’t refuse.
Barkley had a year that might have cemented him as the “gold jacket” player Dave Gettleman believed he drafted No. 2 overall in 2018. Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards – 101 short of breaking Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old record, garnered MVP support and was the best player on an Eagles team that is still playing as we hit the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs.
The Giants went 3-14.
Let’s look at running back as we near the completion of our position-by-position reviews of the 2024 Giants.
2024 in review
The roster
Tyrone Tracy Jr., Devin Singletary, Eric Gray, Dante Miller (practice squad)
While Barkley was having a magical season in Philadelphia, the Giants were testing out the time-worn theory that you don’t need a superstar running back to have an effective running game. The theory goes that if you have good blocking and good backs you can have a good rushing attack without a star player.
In the narrow construct of that argument — and that argument alone — the Giants were proven correct.
Just a few raw numbers:
- Yards per carry — 2023 with Barkley, 4.1; 2024, 4.2
- Rushing success rate (A successful rush gains least 40% of yards required on 1st down, 60% of yards required on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd or 4th down. Denominator is rushing attempts.)
2023, 41.6% | 2024, 47.2%
- Rush DVOA — 2023, -18.6% (29th) | 2024, -12.1% (23rd)
- 20+ yard runs — 2023, 12 (11th) | 2024, 12 (13th)
- 40+ yard runs — 2023, 0 | 2024, 3
The point is this — the team did not get better without Barkley, but it had nothing to do with an inability to run the football. The Giants ran the ball just fine. By some statistical measures (not all), better than they had in 2023 with Barkley.
Tracy gained 839 rushing yards despite barely playing in the first four games, and had 1,123 total yards from scrimmage. A fifth-round pick, Tracy is on a cheap rookie contract that will cost the Giants barely more than $1 million against the salary cap for each of the next three seasons. Singletary, a quality backup, will cost $6.25 million against the cap. For reference, Barkley will cost the Eagles $7.4 million against the cap in 2025 and roughly $37 million the next three seasons.
There is no argument that Barkley is a better player than Tracy or Singletary, or even the combination of both. But, it is reality that Barkley would not have approached 2,000 yards with the Giants in 2024. Barkley led the NFL in rushing yards before contact in 2024 with 1,328. Barkley averaged 3.8 yards before contact per rush. Tracy averaged 2.7. Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens (1,012) was the only other back with more than 1,000 rushing yards before contact. Barkley needs to buy those offensive linemen in Philly some expensive gifts.
Where the Giants really missed Barkley was in the locker room on a day-to-day basis and on the sideline during games. As immense as his talent is, what the Giants misjudged was the value to his teammates of his presence and his leadership.
2025 outlook
The first two spots in the backfield will almost certainly look like they did in 2024.
Tracy will be RB1. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what kind of numbers he can produce a) as the team’s lead back from Week 1 and b) if the Giants are competitive enough that they don’t play in a half-dozen or more games where handing the ball to a running back in the second half is pointless.
Singletary, the veteran was was displaced by Tracy as the primary back, should return as RB2. He carries a $6.25 million cap hit for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, the Giants would save only $250,000 of that by cutting him ($1.5 million in savings with $4.75 million in dead money as a post-June 1 cut). So, it doesn’t make financial sense to move on from Singletary.
Eric Gray figures to face competition from Dante Miller and at least one more veteran or draft pick for the third running back spot.
